Jumpers: Paid to Shield the Shield Hero
by Imaginationburstingout
Summary: When a man had enough of a character's suffering. He went out of his way and hired a Jumper. Finally the suffering of a certain Shield Hero will be eased even if just a little bit.
1. Jumpers

**Jumpers**

* * *

Jumpers

A mercenary group that's well known for one thing: mercenary work in other or fictional worlds, most of the time this organization is focused in the anime branch. That doesn't mean that they don't branch to others though. Time to time they would also "jump" to video games, cartoons and even the occasional realistic drama. Their facility in unknown to anyone and only the employees in this company are the ones that know of its whereabouts.

Like a mercenary group, jumpers can also be hired with money. The difference between them though is the amount of money you pay them. For instance, you want to protect a character but you only have so much in you pocket, Jumpers would barely even lift a finger to protect your character and would only intervene from time to time. Pay them with a generous amount on the other hand they would protect this character from anything and would always give it their all.

Jumpers usually come garbed in a simple pure white jumpsuit, while the attire would look unsuspecting it's not the suit you should be looking at but the person itself. Jumpers has this power called the "Core". This "Core" is their weapon, its function is simple, imagine the weapon and it will appear; you want Kratos' blades? Done. Saber's Excalibur? Easy. Any weapon the Jumpers know they can conjure it. Not only that they can also use the Core to give their bodies upgrades, modified bodies from the Spartan 2 program in Halo, to Alex Mercer's Blacklight parasite to Naruto's shadow clones.

That's not to say that the Core has no limits. The only limit that the Core had was "lore". Each and every weapon that Jumpers conjure contain a story, a history, a reason as to why they were made. If a Jumper were to summon the Invective shotgun from Destiny, they would need to know the backstory behind such a weapon, the reason why it was created if they don't then the weapon is next to useless. Of course, the Jumpers could just say the Invective was created to battle the Darkness. While this would make the weapon usable, Jumpers still wouldn't be able to harness its full power.

It's natural for Jumpers to fight with each other, this usually happens when two Jumpers are hired but from different clients with opposing goals. While Jumper fights happen rarely, it has been agreed that to win they only have to beat the enemy Jumper to submission.

One thing's for sure is that Jumpers are people that one should never _ever_ underestimate.

* * *

 **[Jumper 0008, please proceed to a briefing room A078 as you have a client,]** the PA system said.

Said Jumper got up from her bed and started her usual morning routine, after a quick brush of her teeth and a shower, she left her room and walked towards her designated briefing room. The white, tidy hallway spanned so far, she almost thought that the hallway wouldn't end. As she walked she observed the side wall watching as the room numbers for each Jumper passed by. Her footsteps echoed through the hallway telling her that most Jumpers as still asleep, waiting for someone to hire them or are doing their job in the world that they're assigned to. She stopped her walk when the door for the room 0046 opened. A girl shorter than her came out of the room while reaching up with her arms giving a sigh as she stretched her body. Behind the white Jumpsuit that she wore bore the numbers that were the same with her room.

"0008! Good morning!" she said cheerfully

0008 smiled at her childish attitude, after exchanging greetings the two decided to walk together. From what 0008 could understand she too was hired by someone and was told to go to the briefing room B495. After walking for a while, they finally reached the end of the hallway to see multiple pathways that were split into letters starting from A all the way to Z. 0008 and 0046 said their farewells and walked alone to their designated briefing rooms.

A075…A076…A077…

0008 stopped just in front of her designated room and gave a knock. The door was bisected diagonally before opening with a sound that resembled a snake hissing. 0008 entered the room while the door behind her closed and sealed itself to the point where the door even disappeared. It was a small room that was only five cubic meters and just like the hallway, it was covered in nothing but white. In the middle was a white table with a piece of document that sat on top of it. Walking towards the cliched scene she opened the folder to read the details of her mission.

 **0008, you have been hired by a client that goes under the name of Michael.**

 **The statement of Michael is on the disc in front of you. Please listen to it before proceeding.**

She followed the folder's instructions and pressed a button of the disc. The disc flared open and showed a flatline that began to move as sounds entered its microphone.

* * *

 _System: Please state your purpose, why do you want to hire a jumper?_

 _Michael: I want to hire one because I'm sick and tired of Myne!_

 _System: Checking character information… Myne… unknown name, please state character's real name._

 _Michael: Oh… uh… I think it was Malty Melromarc and her father!_

 _System: Names match from the anime: "The Rising of the Shield Hero". Question, what do you want the Jumpers to do with them?_

 _Michael: Simple… kill them!_

 _System: Alert, please understand that killing these characters would be a detriment to the protagonist of the anime, Iwatami Naofumi._

 _Michael: Detrimental? How? All they eve did was bring suffering to him!_

 _System: It was this suffering that made Naofumi who he is now. Killing these two would result in the entire balance of their universe to be altered._

 _Michael: Altered how?_

 _System: Removing these two would result to Naofumi partying alone, eventually he would find a party and he would never have met the other two protagonists: Raphtalia and Filo. He would also never have met Fitoria and would never have discovered the "Cursed Series" of his shield. The best solution would be to ease his suffering even in a small amount. I ask again do you want to continue with killing Malty Melromarc and Aultcray Melromarc XXXII?_

 _Michael: I see… Okay I'll go with the second offer. Try and ease his suffering… even if it's a little._

 _System: Thank you, a Jumper will be sent to the world of "The Rising of the Shield Hero" as soon as possible._

* * *

The message finally ended. 0008 finally turned the page to see the personal information of Iwatami Naofumi. Skipping that part, she kept skimming through the text to see how much this mission was. Her eyes opened to see the price.

 _Mission: Assist Iwatami Naofumi_

 _Jumper No.: 0008_

 _Amount to be paid: 95,000,000$_

" _Must be a die-hard fan to give me that much money to protect him…" 0008 thought._

Closing the folder, she looked around the room to see something new that wasn't there when she first entered the room, a wide platform. Knowing what to do she stepped on it and waited for the "Jump" to commence. Eventually the device platform known as a teleported slowly hummed to life. The pitch of the humming slowly rose up. When the humming reached its peak a text box appeared in front of 0008 out of nowhere.

 **[You are about to jump to the world: The Rising of the Shield Hero]**

 **[Do you wish to proceed?]**

 **[Yes/No]**

Without hesitation, 0008 thought of "Yes". After another second the teleporter's pitch increased before engulfing 0008 with a bright light.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **S** **o what do you all think? It's been a pet project that I've been working on for months now and only managed the courage to show it now. I would like some thoughts about this and some opinions so without further ado I hope you all enjoyed this story.**

 **Peace~**


	2. Main Objective: Join His Party

**Main Objective: Join His Party**

* * *

0008 opened her eyes to see only a mossy stone wall, looking to her side she could tell that she was in an alleyway. Walking forward she exited the alleyway to find herself in the town square of the kingdom that was ruled by the corrupt king and princess. Looking around her surroundings she could see carriages that were either carrying someone important, food and supplies. Citizens of the kingdom walked on the side stone pavements, merchants selling different kinds of paraphernalia stood on the side of the road offering cheeky prices that were sometimes lowered by a charismatic person.

Deciding that she was too in the open she went back in the alleyway to hide herself to the crowd. Once she was sure that no one was watching or within eye sight of her she closed her eyes and began the construction of an important companion. She could see it, the pyramids that connect making its cubic shape the blue sphere that contains inside it whenever it would expand, the small sphere in the very centre. Once the image is complete she began pouring her knowledge about the construct.

" _They were created after the death of the great god, the Traveler. Made to search for dead warriors that would be revived to fight the Darkness, turning them into Guardians. Each guardian has their own Ghost with each of them having their own worthy personality. They have the ability to store weapons, armour and other aesthetics that would assist any guardian. They can also revive the guardians whenever there's any presence of Light but in places where Darkness dominate they would require the Light of another guardian to be revived. Ghosts' are also very good at opening doors,"_

 **Core has completed the construction of a [Ghost - Destiny]**

0008 opened her eyes to see the cubic construct floating in front of her, its spherical eye rotated in angles telling her that it was confused.

"This will get some getting used to," the ghost said.

"I'm sorry but I'm not a guardian," 0008 said.

"That much I can tell, you hold something very powerful,"

The ghost began hovering around her while shooting its blue beam in an attempt to analyse the Jumper. "I can't seem to get any information about you, are you working with the Darkness?"

0008 shook her head, "No, I will explain more about this but right now I need to do something important,"

"If I was called here there must be a reason, I shall join you,"

"Do as you wish,"

The ghost disappeared telling 0008 that he has entered his head. It gave a few beeping sounds before it settled inside her head. "This is quite interesting, to be inside the body of someone that isn't a guardian,"

0008 didn't respond, again she closed her eyes and accessed the never-ending power of the Core to make herself some clothes that would fit in this world and additional equipment.

 **Core has completed the construction of [Leather armour set - The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim]**

 **[Leather Bracers - The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim]**

 **[Leather Boots - The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim]**

 **[Iron Dagger - The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim] X2**

 **[Quiver]**

 **[Arrow] X50**

 **[Hero's Bow - Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess]**

 **[Commoner's Clothes}**

0008 opened her eyes to see the brown armour from the well-known game, the [Hero's Bow] was slung across her shoulder and the weight of the [Quiver] and [Arrow] made themselves known behind her, looking on her sides she could see the two [Iron Dagger]s that she had summoned resting on her sides, ready to be drawn should the need arise.

"What was that!" the Light construct exclaimed in her head.

"The Core,"

"What's the 'Core'?"

"I will explain that later,"

She walked back to the centre of the town and looked around for the direction of the castle, once she found her objective she walked. While explaining to her cubic companion what the Jumpers are.

* * *

"So, these 'Jumpers' are basically world hopping mercenaries that alter the change of a world?" ghost said.

"Not the best description of us but I'll take it," 0008 said as she sidestepped a citizen that was rushing somewhere.

"If this Core is as powerful as you say why did you create me?" he asked.

"While the Core is powerful, it lacks one thing: intelligence,"

"What do you mean?"

"For all purposes the Core is nothing but a machine that's been inside our bodies, all it knows is the knowledge of constructing what we want it to make, what I need is information," 0008 said.

"What information?"

"Information of my whereabouts, what episode am I in the anime? Where do I need to be when major events happen and other factors that could very well affect the balance of this universe, that's where you come it. You noticed that there's something new inside of you right?"

There was a brief silence as the ghost looked for something in its system. "Now that you mention it… there is, its live information of you mission,"

"What does it say?" she asked.

"According to the information, you have been 'jumped' to the second half of the first episode, our target: The Shield Hero, is being brought to the castle as we speak,"

"So, he was already framed?" she said to herself.

"Just who is this Shield Hero?" ghost asked with curiosity.

0008 explained to her ghost the plot of the anime while doing so she finally reached the bridge that connected to the castle. Just in time to see her client leave the place with a very pissed off face. Too blinded by his rage Naofumi pushed 0008 away from him and continued walking towards the market area of the kingdom. 0008 followed him, this continued for a while until he finally snapped.

"Would you stop following me?" he growled.

"Would you let me speak first?" 0008 said.

"What do you want? I've already been fucked over by a bitch, I don't want another one doing the same to me," He said as he turned around and started to walk away.

" _Well… there goes your client,"_ Ghost said in her head.

0008 contemplated on what to do as her client started to move further and further away from her, eventually a thought entered her mind. While not the best method it would be able to help her get some leeway for Naofumi to listen to her.

"Mr. Naofumi, I have some information that may interest you,"

The Shield Hero stopped on his tracks and looked at the female Jumper. 0008 had to give herself a pat on the shoulder as she had his attention now. "I can't tell you here in the public… for now let's head to an inn,"

"Then what? You'll do the same as that bitch princess?" he said still pretty miffed.

"I can guarantee you that I'm an ally, after all I was paid to look after you," 0008 said vaguely.

"What do you mean by 'paid' to look after me?"

"All will be said if you choose to listen to me," 0008 said while passing him and began walking towards the nearest in with the help of her ghost.

While the pair, excluding the Light construct, walked at their destination, 0008 used her Core to conjure up some copper and silver coins. While the normal person would have created gold coins she had to remember to keep her profile low. With the leather armor and the equipment, she's carrying most of the citizens would consider her as someone who earns a steady supply of silver coins and not gold coins.

 **Core has completed to construction of [Copper Coin] X200**

 **[Silver Coin] X24**

The pair finally reached the inn, ironically it was the same inn where Naofumi had been arrested for the rape allegation. They walked up to the receptionist whom was a middle-aged male that was too busy to focus on the two customers in front of him.

"I would like a room for two please," 0008 said while dropping the appropriate amount of copper coins.

The receptionist looked up to see 0008 and blushed slightly at her beautiful complexion, then he scowled as he looked who was behind her, "Miss I would advise you to sleep in another room even if you're going to pay for him,"

"No, a room for two would be appropriate,"

"Miss… you do know who he is right? He's the Shield Hero, the one who raped His Highness' princess!"

Naofumi flinched at the man's words and began to scowl. Just as he was about to give the man a piece of his mind a hand blocked his way. The owner of the hand seems to be an adventurer, Naofumi didn't pay attention to his details and pressed onward but the hand didn't budge.

"Don't even think about going near her, rapist hero,"

"Yeah, you would think that getting shamed by the king would stop you. Bringing another woman here… you sure got some balls eh?" another adventurer said.

The adventurer that was blocking the Shield Hero turned his head to look at 0008, "Surely you've heard of what he's done right? He's raped the king's princess. You shouldn't even be coming close to him,"

"While appreciate your worries, I would have you know that your concerns are misplaced," 0008 said.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't want to waste my time on people who wouldn't even believe a grain of salt to what I have to say. Leave Mr. Naofumi alone," 0008 said coldly.

The adventurers flinched at her sudden coldness, "Fine, but if something happens to you don't come to us crying,"

Once the whole ordeal was over she got her room for two and both of them sat together on the small dining area that was near the window.

"So, start talking," Naofumi said still suspicious.

* * *

Naofumi leaned back while he contemplated on the words that his supposed 'protector' said.

" _My code number is 0008, I am a Jumper and I've been hired to protect you by one under the name of Michael,"_

After that he started asking questions about what Jumpers are, fortunately she explained. At first, he didn't believe her when she said that she could conjure up anything with the use of this "Core" but after seeing it first hand he knew that she was the real deal. 0008 also told him of the policies that Jumpers follow when getting hired and how their effectiveness depends on how much their getting paid, at first Naofumi assumed that this 'Michael' only pain her small money to protect him.

At first

He had to shake his head multiple times as he tried to grasp the amount. Ninety-five million dollars, this 'Michael' fellow had paid her ninety-five million dollars to protect him! He was suspicious of course after all, he was a simple college student, he wasn't worth ninety-five million dollars. He was curious so he asked her more questions regarding about the payment and why he's worth that much.

" _Unfortunately, that is all I can say to you… the rest is classified, rest assured I will follow the policy of Jumpers and protect you with everything I have,"_

0008 didn't respond after that, after all she didn't want Naofumi to realize that he was just a fictional character, that would shatter his beliefs. She knew this because she has seen RE: Creators. So, she had made up a believable story, that was enough to convince him.

"So… how many contracts have you completed?" Naofumi asked.

"More than a million," 0008 said.

"Am I guaranteed safe?"

"Unfortunately, I can only protect you from physical harm… not psychological harm,"

"That's alright… I can deal with it… by the way can I have your real name?"

0008 had to tilt her head in confusion, "What do you mean… I already told you, its 0008"

"That's your code number… wait don't tell me you don't have a name,"

"I-I don't," 0008 hesitated.

"Okay, then we'll give you one… so you have three zeroes and an eight… how about Sanmaru Hachiko?"

"Hachiko Sanmaru?" 0008 asked.

"Yeah, since you have three zeroes it would be "Sanmaru" as your family name and "Hachiko" first name as your first name, besides wouldn't it be impractical if I just call you 'zero-zero-zero-eight'?"

"You have a point," Sanmaru said while putting her thumb under her chin. With a nod she agreed to her temporary name.

Once the entire discussion is done the pair finally slept.

* * *

A loud knocking made itself known in the room. Naofumi rose up and looked outside to see that the sun had already risen. The knocking became more louder before finally being busted open by a spear. The Shield Hero flinched at the sudden use of violence, when the door opened five guards rushed in the room and pointed their swords at the hero.

Naofumi raised his hands in surrender while he looked with rage filled eyes at the people who entered the room aside from the guards; it was the bastard Motoyatsu and the bitch of a princess.

"Where is the female that you have brought in here!?" Motoyatsu said while he pointed the spear at his neck.

Naofumi was speechless again, rage filled his entire eyes as he foolishly believed Sanmaru. Just as he was about to scream in rage a voice made itself known in the room.

"I would appreciate it if you don't touch Mr. Naofumi," the heads turned and looked at the new person in the room.

In an instant the Spear Hero approached Sanmaru and held her hands together, "Are you alright? Did this man rape you?"

"No and would you please let me go, I'm afraid your stupidity might infect me,"

"What do you mean? It's clear that he's persuaded you to follow him and do things that you wouldn't agree to!" he continued.

"I see, she's been traumatized to the point where she believes this liar!" Malty said while pointing an accusing finger at Naofumi.

"You bitch!" Naofumi said as he tried to lunge at her.

Unfortunately, the spears got in the way, the princess backed away and feigned fear and went behind the Spear Hero. "Hero Motoyatsu! Save me, he's going to assault me again!"

Motoyatsu clicked his tongue and looked at the guards, "Arrest that rapist!"

Just as the soldiers were about to arrest him something explainable happened, the iron swords that they were pointing at him suddenly fell apart and in front of them was Sanmaru who was blocking them from reaching Naofumi.

Unknown to everyone Sanmaru used [Koro Sensei]'s speed from the anime [Assassination Classroom] to reach him, with that speed she then used her daggers which she enchanted with [Extreme Vibration] similar to that of [Raiden]'s sword of [Metal Gear], to slice all of the swords and blocked them from reaching Naofumi.

The guards backed away from her and now were very cautious with her, Malty clicked her tongue and was about to order an arrest to her when all of a sudden something flew past her and grazed her cheek. She fell down on her knees and felt the warm crimson that was coming out of her cheek. Motoyatsu approached her and comforted her.

While this was happening Sanmaru turned around and reached a hand to Naofumi and smiled, "Come on, aren't you suppose to level up today?"

Taking her hand, the two were about to leave when a spear blocked the door, "It's clear that you're being manipulated by him, stop this farce and let me help you!"

"You are a hypocrite to think that I am being manipulated," Sanmaru said calmly.

"Don't you understand! He raped you! And he was willing to hurt the princess! He's not e he- "his speech stopped when he suddenly felt something bad about the woman he was talking to.

Accessing [Nagisa Shiota]'s [Blood lust]. Sanmaru flared it and directed it at the people in the room while leaving Naofumi out of it, "I would watch the next words that come out of your mouth," she said sharply.

The spear that was blocking the pair dropped allowing the two of them to leave the room while the rest took a breather. Meanwhile Naofumi looked behind in amazement.

" _So, this is the power of a Jumper,"_ he thought.

* * *

 **A/N: I hope you liked this chapter! Any questions you have feel free to ask me in the comments. So without further ado I leave you all be!**

 **Peace~**


	3. Main Objective: Buy Raphtalia

**Main Objective: Buy Raphtalia**

* * *

Hachiko jumped back just in time to avoid the range attack of a monster; this monster had the body of a squirrel but it has a vine like tail that grows elongated thorns which can detach from the tail making it some sort of range weapon. Two more of those squirrels jumped out of a bush and started to assist their fellow comrade by flinging their thorns at Hachiko. Still in mid-air Hachiko knew that she wouldn't be able to move. She should have taken those thorns but Naofumi prevented that by happening by standing in between Hachiko and the flung thorns, using his shield he managed to deflect all of the thorns except for one or two that didn't even hit the both of them.

Hachiko finally found a decent footing and prepared to attack. Giving the signal to the Shield Hero he pushed forward while Hachiko followed behind. The monsters started to panic as the pair closed in on them, in a final desperate act the monsters flung every thorn that was attached on their tail at Naofumi.

"[Air Strike Shield]!" Naofumi yelled.

Suddenly out of nowhere a green, transparent shield appeared out of nowhere and received the attack and dispersed. By the time the skill that was casted by Naofumi dispersed they were already within arms reach of the monsters, Naofumi sidestepped out of the way of Hachiko, without Naofumi blocking her she cleaved both of her daggers in a horizontal arc striking all of the monsters. While the monsters bled out Hachiko and Naofumi stayed alert and watching their every corner for any new contenders that wanted to challenge them. After a few more seconds no more monsters came out, seeing this as a sign Naofumi and Hachiko both eased up and approached their latest prey.

Naofumi took out a knife while Hachiko sheathed one of the daggers. They started to dismember parts of the dead monsters as both proof that they had killed them and potential materials to be sold. Once they looted the bodies thoroughly they left the area and towards the kingdom.

* * *

Erhard was an honest man, the middle-aged blacksmith worked hard making his wares and selling them to loyal customers. So, it was with delight that a certain Shield Hero decided to stay and look at his shop despite the eyes that the entire kingdom's been giving to him after the entire false allegations with the current princess. Truth be told he didn't really like the princess that much; while she never visited his shop, except for that time when she and Naofumi went to buy some armour and weapons, he could tell that she was nothing short of a spoiled brat. Initially when it was just Naofumi and her one look at her face he can already tell that she was leeching off of him. He felt sorry for the kid and not once did he believed that he was accused of that rape allegation; the kid looked too honest to be doing something like that anyways.

Right now, had he had just finished tying up another bundle of arrows as pre-requested by Naofumi's newest companion: Hachiko Hachi. Initially he was skeptical of the woman but Naofumi seems to trust her enough so he wouldn't pry too much on it. Looking outside he could see that the sun has already begun its descent and for its sibling to take over. Knowing what time, it was he stepped out and stood at his counter waiting for his two favourite customers.

"Hey, Old man!" Naofumi said while raising a hand.

"Nice to see you two again, how was today?" he asked

Naofumi approached the counter while Hachiko looked around, "well could be worse, we defeated some Thorn Rats today so I guess today doesn't seem so bad,"

"So, what brings you here today?" the shop owner asked.

"Hachiko wanted to buy some arrows, she used most of them today," he said while pointing a thumb at the girl who was testing the sharpness of some of the blades.

"I have them wrapped up and ready, as she wanted. I'll go get them,"

Erhard left the counter and went inside his storage to take the requested items while Naofumi waited. Meanwhile Jumper 0008 and her ghost were having a discussion in her mind.

" _Ghost, do you have any information on what episode I'm at?"_ she asked in her mind.

A few mechanical sounds later ghost responded, _"We're currently in episode two,"_

" _So, this is the episode where we buy Raphtalia… in the anime he went to the slave market because he wanted to buy a slave to assist him in levelling up. Now that I'm here though he's probably thinking that we'll be fine with just the two of us… I know just how to convince him to buy Raphtalia!"_ Hachiko thought.

"Here you go, arrows for the lady," Erhard said as he dropped five bundles of arrows.

Hachiko approached the counter and started to gather the ammunition for the bow, during this she asked a question, "Say, Erhard by any chance do you know when the next Wave is?"

This question piqued the Shield Hero's interest as too gave the middle-aged man a questioning look. Said man had a look on his face that looked as if both of Naofumi and Hachiko had grown a head. "Shouldn't you both know?"

"I don't know… I just thought it comes naturally," Hachiko said while shrugging nonchalantly.

"So, you both don't know?" he asked earning a nod from both of them.

On the contrary, Hachiko actually knew when it would start but for the sake of following the canon story, Naofumi needed this information which could also help her in convincing him to buy Raphtalia. Erhard gave a heavy sigh and began to explain the 'Dragon Timer' that resided in the Church of the kingdom. Upon hearing this new information Naofumi clenched his fist in anger; anger because the king didn't mention this to him despite being a hero. All his anger dissipated when he heard of the deadline of the next Wave.

"S-six month!?" Naofumi yelled while slamming his hands on the counter in surprise.

"Yeah, if I were you I would start to get ready," Erhard said while crossing his arms.

"How can we be ready? The levelling system in this world is too hard!" Naofumi complained.

"I may have a suggestion Mr. Naofumi," said man turned to his companion, "I think you should get a slave,"

"That's a good option… while frowned upon by this kingdom, it's not really illegal to buy slaves to do your work," Erhard added.

"What if the slave betrays their master?" Naofumi asked.

"They can't for their life because a magical seal will be placed on them that forces them to do their master's bidding, should they disobey that seal activate sending waves of pain to the slave, if they continue to be disobedient the seal just outright kills them," Hachiko said.

"Also, you can have access to the 'Slave System'," Erhard added.

A brief explanation about the system later and some convincing courtesy of Hachiko, Naofumi finally caved into peer pressure and walked with her to the slave market.

* * *

Beloukas, a rather plump man with a black suit with extended tail coats, a top hat rested on his head and circular rimmed glasses. This man was mostly known as "The Slave Trader", he lives true to his name and while selling slaves is suspicious he claims that he is an honest salesman doing his job, while some frown upon his profession they simply cannot do anything. After all, in the country of Melromarc slave trade isn't exactly illegal. The man being described could be currently seen standing in front of a certain Shield Hero and a Jumper.

"Nice to meet you, my name is Beloukas. What can I do for you Shield Hero?" he asked as he gave a gracious bow.

"I'd like to buy a slave," Naofumi said.

"Well then I believe you have come to the right place, please follow me," Beloukas gestured then walked ahead. Of the pair Hachiko decided to sit it out by standing next to the entrance.

While they walked down the hallway of cages that were draped over with a large piece of cloth, Beloukas started to explain what types of slaves he sold, every now and then he would explain the features of a specific slave that caught the interest of the Shield Hero. They had just stopped in front of a huge cage that housed a lycanthrope, this creature was currently holding the bars of its cage while showing a generous number of teeth to both Beloukas and Naofumi. One look at the creature Naofumi knew that controlling such a berserker would bring more harm than good.

He looked around and he spotted it, just to his left sat a cage big enough to fit a child while small enough to fit a creature like the lycanthrope, it was half draped with a torn-up cloth showing only a portion of its content. Approaching the cage, he lifted the drapes to see something – no _someone_ in the cage, she was short that much he can tell from the dark, he lifted the cloth even more to allow more light to enter. She was covered in dust and grime, her unkempt chestnut hair could be seen, the ruffled tail, the dull emerald eyes that only tell hopelessness locked with the Shield Hero's eyes. The clothes she was wearing was barely holding itself together; there was a hole in her clothes that showed her ribs showing signs of extreme hunger. All in all, the sight was just downright pitiful.

"This slave's been here for about a month now, I'd suggest you find a different slave as she holds a disease and her body could barely support her," Beloukas said.

Naofumi thought for about it for a moment, what he said is true; the girl in front of her could be nothing short of useless to him. Yet for some unknown reason he doesn't want to abandon her in this hell hole, aside from felling pity to the girl he also looked at it in a logical point of view. Having someone that's closer to human than beast like the lycanthrope could also prove useful, after all she can understand human language, right? That usually means she can be taught. What's even better is the fact that she doesn't even look like she could sneak into his bed and slit his throat while he slept just by judging her petite physique.

"I'll take this one," Naofumi said.

"I thought you might… very well, after we apply the seal to her she'll be all yours," Beloukas said while leaving him to get the keys that unlocked her cage.

* * *

"What's your name?" Naofumi asked.

"Um… R-Raphtalia," the slave said meekly.

Naofumi observed the demi-human, now that she was out of the cage he and Hachiko could see the horrible conditions she had been put through, deep dark bags were under her eyes showing signs of intense fatigue, the tattered clothes that she wore were barely hanging on her person, her whole body smelled like last week's breakfast, lunch, and dinner that was regurgitated and then eaten back, and if Beloukas was to be trusted she also held a disease. Naofumi wasn't ignorant, he knew that under these horrible conditions Raphtalia could barely move properly let alone fight a single monster.

"Right, first we need to get you some equipment… a dagger would probably be good for you for the time being," Naofumi said while making a thinking gesture.

"Don't worry Raphtalia, we're going to take good care of you," Hachiko said while giving her a smile.

"R-right," Raphtalia said then she looked away giving horrible coughs you could only find from a person housing a very terrible disease.

"I don't think we can hunt monsters for these past three days Mr. Naofumi," Hachiko said while looking at him.

"I know, first we need to take care of her… do you have anything in that "Core" of yours to cure her?" he asked the Jumper.

"I can create simple health potions but this disease is a different, while drinking health potions help her for a while the disease will always come back. I need to make a drug that kills the disease but in order to do that I need to know the disease so that I can create the counter,"

"I see…" Naofumi said while going back to his thinking posture.

"Don't you have something in you shield?" she hinted. Truth be told she knew that he had a skill that could make a medicine that could cure the demi-human.

"I don't have anythi-…. Actually, I think I have something," he said while looking at the various skills that his shield offered.

While this was happening, Hachiko looked at Raphtalia again to see her still standing in the same spot fidgeting every now and then while she listened to the entire conversation, the Jumper gave sweet smile to comfort the girl. She crouched down to reach her eye level and gave some comforting words.

"Don't worry, Mr. Naofumi here will help you and fix that disease inside you,"

"R-really?" she asked, Hachiko could already see some colour in her eyes returning but then in returned back to the normal dull colour, "But, why? I-I'm just a slave, I don't deserve such treatment,"

"He may be strict but he really cares for those that belong to him," She said smiling. While hugging the demi-human, while she didn't like to admit it Raphtalia had been much better than other slaves that she had seen in other worlds. The one world that she detested the most was the world of [Fallout: New Vegas], [Legion] was just nothing but scum and the way they treat their slaves was nothing short of inhumane, in short, she was completely disgusted. While she didn't agree with the [NCR]'s views she had to accept that they were the lesser evil between both [House] and [Legion].

She immediately wrapped her arms around the sick girl and gave words that brought back the life in her eyes, "Don't worry… you don't have to struggle anymore, we're going to take _really_ good care of you," she said.

Raphtalia's eyes we're like dinner plates at the sudden contact, then the waterworks in her eyes finally broke as tears flowed freely from her eyes while crying out loud. Naofumi looked at the sight and gave small smile, now that Hachiko implanted to Raphtalia the image that Naofumi is a kind man he'll just have to deliver that image.

* * *

 **A/N: Hooo boy there we go the newest chapter! Tell me how all of you feel about this and how I executed it, does the whole Hachiko convincing Naofumi to buy Raphtalia sound forced or not? Next chapter is the all about the First Wave! Other, then that, let me read some of the reviews!**

 **ThelonewolkNT: I share your enthusiasm!**

 **tranbui156: Thank you for the compliment! Don't worry, Motoyatsu will be humiliated in more ways than one now that Jumper 0008 has joined the fray!**

 **AnnoyingOrange: Here's the latest update I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

 **I suppose that's all I'm going to say... I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I'll try to make the latest chapter sooner or later.**

 **Peace~**


	4. Side Mission: Humiliate the Spear Hero

**Side Mission: Humiliate the Spear Hero**

* * *

"Do it now Raphtalia!" Naofumi shouted.

With a war cry the demi-human thrusted the sword in her hands forward, steel met flesh as she sliced through the neck of the beast. The monster gave a pained and gurgled howl before finally toppling over dead. Easing up Naofumi walked towards the beast while holding a knife to cut a part of the beast. Meanwhile Sanmaru had just finished up her part – killing the beast's underlings.

Raphtalia stood still, she used her ears to listen to any noise that would tell her that there were more enemies coming. When nothing came to she eased up, walking up to Sanmaru she watched with rapt attention as the Jumper sliced a piece of the monster she had defeated.

Ever since the day she was bought the person that looked out for her was none other than Sanmaru Hachiko, when she asked about the why she simply responded with a sweet smile and left it at that, frankly speaking she didn't care what her motive was, one look from that smile even her animalistic instincts tell her that she had no other ulterior motives then to take care of her. Sanmaru acted as her temporary crutch throughout the whole month. Whenever she had a nightmare of her parents dying she was there to comfort her, she was also there to help her brave the two headed dog that awakened some her fears.

Aside from taking care of her she also trained her how to use a sword, initially she had used a short sword due to her weak physique but now that she gained more muscle and height from all the healthy food that she had been eating. When Naofumi noticed her rapid development, he went out of his way to buy her some proper equipment, a proper dress for fighting, a pair of lace-up boots, gloves and a leather breastplate. Whenever they had time the pair would train while her master would stay in the inn making health potions.

Speaking of potions, she was also shocked at the quality of potions that her master makes, it was strong enough to even kill the disease that was festering inside her ever since she became a slave, after that she resolved herself to serve under Naofumi with utmost loyalty. After curing her disease Sanmaru had also suggested to him to make potions and sell them to the local potion shop as a way to earn extra coins, suffice to say they had heavier pockets ever since he started selling the potions.

With their looting finished they left the area and made their way back to the kingdom to sell the items while completing a quest that they took, despite Naofumi's distaste. The false allegations still haven't left the city and the citizens still looked at him with disgust at this point though he didn't care – they didn't know what truly happened so why should he care about their biased opinions.

They walked back to the inn that they have been residing ever since he and the Jumper met, once in they made their way to the tables that served as the place where the residents ate their food. Sitting down on one of the tables they waited for the only waitress in the place to take their order.

"May I take your order?" she asked.

"I'll take what the chef recommends today," Sanmaru said.

"I have my usual and the kiddie meal for her," he said while pointing at the Tanuki demi-human.

"Mr. Naofumi, I'll have you know that I'm not a kid anymore!" she said while standing up from her seat, tail wagging in annoyance, frankly the Jumper found it cute. She gave a determined look at the waitress who flinched slightly. "I'll also have what Mr. Naofumi's will be eating,"

After giving a polite bow she walked away from the group and told the chef their orders. A few minutes passed with some idle conversations here and there mostly between Sanmaru and Raphtalia with Naofumi joining in every now and then. Their food finally arrived and they ate.

This monotonous cycle repeated itself as time passed. They would wake up, look for potential places to level up, after hours of fighting they would go home and sell the loot that they have gathered, they would have their dinner at the same inn with changing to eat at the bar every now and then. The only things that were changing were Raphtalia's skills in the sword and her appetite, much to her embarrassment. Days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months, finally the day of reckoning finally arrived.

 **Six months later…**

Naofumi looked outside of the perimeter of the kingdom's walls with a determined look. The sun has already reached its peak and was about to go to its descent not long after, on his sides were Raphtalia and Sanmaru. The reason for why they are here is due to the words that Sanmaru had said minutes prior.

" _Mr. Naofumi, ready your shield. The First Wave is coming!"_

When asked about the how all she said that she would reveal it later on. Not one to question her he ignorantly left it at that. He looked behind him to see the city living their normal lives, not one of them knowing what will be coming, heck even the guards were anything but active the one guarding the left side of the gate can attest to that what with his head constantly dipping down.

And he was supposed to defend this kingdom?

"It's almost time," Sanmaru said.

Again, he would have to ask her how she knows things, of course he could just chalk it up to it being a Jumper thing but at the same time he felt that it wasn't just that and that it was something more.

"Well, well, what do we have here,"

The voice alone was enough to boil the Shield Hero's blood as he tried to ignore the owner of that god-awful voice. Motoyatsu walked towards him with several of the girls that had joined his party ever since they had arrived in this world. Said man locked eyes with the Jumper then followed his eyes to the newest addition to the Shield Hero's team.

"What's this? I never thought you would stoop that low, Naofumi, to bring a child nonetheless!"

This seemed to strike a nerve at the demi-human and glared at the Spear Hero, "I'm not a child! I consider myself to be an adult,"

"If you are an adult then please do tell why you have joined this disgrace, why not join my side?" Motoyatsu said while raising his finger to point at Naofumi.

Naofumi didn't say anything but judging by how his fists clenched and how he trembled in rage, Sanmaru could tell that he was already reaching his peak… unfortunately, it won't be enough to unlock the Curse Series which could help him along his path of righteous revenge.

"And it seems that you still lack the chromosomes to register who's the dumbest one here right now," Sanmaru quipped.

Motoyatsu ignored her quip and walked up towards her and held both of her hands with his while looking at her with a very serious face that would've made most 'maidens' in this kingdom want his kids. "You will have to wait longer. I will soon find a way to remove the spell that he has casted upon you,"

From the looks of it and from the number of pheromones the man was secreting it was obvious that all he wanted from her was to be in between her chest or her legs, the look on his face told her that he expected her to blush, to look away from embarrassment or even just to stutter.

"Gross, keep those hypocritical hands off of mine," Sanmaru said while showing a scowl that rivalled that of [Kratos].

She swiftly took her hands off and began rubbing it on the marble that made up the castle's walls, this action seemed to make Motoyatsu flinch as his essence was practically being scraped on the rough surface of the marble.

This action seemed to calm the Shield Hero to the point that his lips curved upwards slightly, "Mr. Naofumi, let's leave this place. I already feel like throwing up whenever tall, blonde and ignorant is within a hundred metres from me,"

Too eager to leave their presence, they left only for the tall, blonde and ignorant to grab her hand. She sighed in complete annoyance, garnering the attention of both Raphtalia and Naofumi. When they were about to help her, she _smiled_ at them causing them to freeze up.

Unknown to most, even in the Jumpers, 0008 rarely 'smiled'. The emotion only shows up if two prerequisites were met; one of them would be completing a contracted mission without even the slight hiccups – a perfect mission. On the other hand, there was that _one_ smile that every Jumper became acquainted and knew her by.

She wasn't called the 'Scythe of Men' for nothing.

She turned her head at the idiot that was still clutching to her arm. His grin widened when he thought that she was finally swaying to his side. That grin will disappear, once it's gone, she's going to put it on a chest, lock said chest, throw the key inside a black hole, then drown the chest inside an active volcano. Motoyatsu was about to place another arm when all of a sudden it was stopped by one of her hands.

She muttered something under her breath that was not heard from everyone but was misheard only to the Spear Hero, "You want me to save you?!"

0008 looked up with the most sadistic smile, her once beautiful features now marred by the ever-darkening grin, "Only my boss would help you out of this now,"

Confusion overcame the Spear Hero only to be replaced when she shoved him away, with his footing off, 0008 moved in removing both the sword that was on her back and the dagger that was attached horizontally to her hip but she unsheathed them immediately as she thought of another way to embarrass the Spear Hero. She used the Core and accessed [Barry Allen]'s speed from [The Flash]. Time slowed down for her as the look on every girl's faces were one of shock, one of them was even unsheathing her weapons.

But she didn't care about them, they didn't do anything to her. Her main target of frustration is the blonde, thirsty teen in front of her. 'Walking' towards the frozen man she used her Core yet again to conjure up a SPAS-12 shotgun with rubber bullets. Once getting a good feel for the weapon she shot it in vital spots. Of course, she also shot that _thing_ in between his legs, not once, not twice but three times.

Just to make sure she hits it, can't be too cautious.

Still moving too fast for anyone, she removed the shotgun and conjured up another weapon.

" _Once held by the ruler or the underworld, it is now in the hand of the one who wanted nothing but to murder his father, whom was responsible for killing his child and beloved. This weapon takes away the souls of man, woman and animal, a ghost that hailed from the empire that bred the strongest warriors at the time, Sparta"_

 **Core has completed the construction of [Claws of Hades – God of War 3]**

She held her arms forward, admiring the weapon that killed the king of the underworld, chains with a sick purple aura wrapped around her forearms, the claws itself released an aura of millions of screams from its victims. She had a dark thought of just pulling Motoyatsu's soul then and there but held herself when she realized that he was still needed for Naofumi's motivation to unlock the Curse Series.

Maybe she'll do it after her client unlocks the Curse Series.

Still moving too fast for them to perceive what she's doing, she casually latched both claws on the Spear Hero's shoulders. With one tug an ethereal form similar to that of Motoyatsu's was pulled out of his body. She grinned sadistically as she casted a spell called [Bound Sword] from [Elder Scrolls V Skyrim]. An ethereal blade came from the depths of the void. Without any hesitation she slashed the weapon to the Spear Hero's soul over and over again until the blade expired and since it expires in two minutes, considering the fact that time still continues despite her moving extremely fast.

She had _a lot_ of time

* * *

Everyone's eyes widened when all of a sudden Motoyatsu screamed in pain, and its not just any kind of pain, it was the pain of being tormented. What made it unsettling was the fact that Sanmaru was just standing in the same spot – glaring at him.

Motoyatsu on the other hand, felt like millions of blades just attacked him yet at the same time it didn't, the pain was so unbearable he felt like he got slashed with a blade, stabbed with said blade, impaled with said blade, disembowelled, bisected, decapitate, and everything else that's relating to extreme pain. He didn't move, instead he used the remaining of his energy to groan in pain.

Sanmaru finally got her emotions on hold, it was never good for Jumpers to show emotion in the middle of missions. Though she's pretty sure she'd done her buyer a service, with an uninterested look she brought her hand up while Motoyatsu was looking at her, she raised a middle finger and walked away.

To the others it might just be some gesture but to the Shield and Spear Hero, they knew completely what it means.

* * *

 **A/N: I'M BAAAAACK!**

 **Terribly sorry for the long break, I sort of lost interest for a while but that's fine because I'm back! For those who are starting to lose hope, I'm here to reassure you that I won't be abandoning this story. Not by a longshot!**

 **Now back to the story, yes, there will be chapters that are called 'Side Missions' its just mission for Sanmaru to do, it can be as simple as doing chores or even embarrassing one of the Heroes bar Naofumi. Think of this as nothing more than a filler; a way to build more character for the protagonist. Anyways with that out of the way, I'll go right into the reviews!**

 **trangbui156:** **Thank you for your compliments and here's the newest chapter! Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!**

 **Shield Bro (February 17, 2019):** **I hope this chapter answers your first question on whether they're going to take care of Raphtalia. For the race?**

 **heheheHEHEHEHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA**

 **Just you wait! I'm going to make sure Motoyatsu will regret cheating in this race. Finally, for the last question… well… you're going to have to wait for the next chapter as it will answer that.**

 **Shield Bro (February 18, 2019):** **Thank you, I sincerely believe that Erhard has the best interest for Naofumi. Again, I hope this answers your second question on whether Sanmaru will be a mentor figure for Raphtalia to follow.**

 **ThelonewolfNT:** **Yeah, sorry about that I kind of forgot that they only have a month before the next wave starts. I have no excuse for this ignorance and will try to better myself in future chapters. Unfortunately, I will not be changing the whole 'six months before the next wave' as I have already used the reason why it will take six months – Raphtalia's training.**

 **Yes, she is strong after being trained by Naofumi but then I thought to myself, wouldn't Sanmaru do better if she would be the one training her? Don't worry the next waves will now stick with the one month time limit.**

 **Have a little Feith:** **Yes, in the animation series and the manga, Naofumi – after buying Raphtalia, was portrayed to be distant but that didn't mean he didn't care for her, after all at the time all he thought about was her becoming her 'sword' as he couldn't fight. After unlocking the Curse Series right after losing to Motoyatsu did he finally realized that she cared for him.**

 **I'm very happy that you have given my story a chance I'm sorry if the summary was a little underwhelming. Hopefully the entire story would change your mind!**

 **For Sanmaru's name… it was a spur in the moment when I was making it. I watched a YouTube video of a compilation of the anime 'Oregairu'. In one of the comments they mentioned the protagonist, Hachiman, as '8man', with 8 being Hachi in Japanese. Thinking like that I decided to google the Japanese for zero and I got is 'maru' and since she has 3 zeroes, I placed 'San' thus the name 'Sanmaru', with Hachi being the number 8.**

 **But you're right, Hachi does sound like it's missing one more syllable. I'll correct them after posting this chapter.**

 **Guest:** **Thanks for the compliment!**

 **With all of that said and done I bid you all adieu!**

 **Peace~**


	5. Main Objective: Stop the First Wave

**Main Objective: Defend Against the Wave**

* * *

Dark skies loomed over the kingdom of Melromarc. On its walls stood three figures; one had a small shield attached to his arm, another had a simple short sword where her hand was placed and finally, another who has both daggers sheathed but she had nocked an arrow to her bow. Naofumi gulped nervously as he thought about the upcoming First Wave. His mind raced to thoughts like: 'was his party ready for the coming battle?', 'did he pack everything he needed in case of emergencies?' and even 'is Raphtalia truly ready?'.

Seeing her party's forehead crease, Hachiko decided to calm him down by placing a hand on his shoulder. This simple action snapped Naofumi back to reality and looked at Hachiko. The Jumper gave the Shield Hero a reassuring smile, this calmed him down a little but it seems that there are still some concerns in his mind. Hachiko could sympathize though; despite having trained hard these last six months, Naofumi was still human. While others say he is a hero they didn't know him as she did.

He was just a sophomore in college, what he learned for his whole life was dedicated to securing his future in the 21st century. He was never taught to defend an entire kingdom, let alone how to handle being ridiculed after being framed by a hated character.

The surrounding turned a shade of darker red. This change made all three members look up in shock… well, truthfully speaking, it was only two who were shocked. Hachiko had seen bigger calamities in her time as a Jumper; she had been to [Olympus] and had personally seen the death of [Zeus] by the hands of [Kratos], she had also seen the events that transpired in [Devil May Cry 5]… she also might've developed a slight crush on a certain son of [Sparda].

Who can fault her? [Dante] is hot.

Her attention turns back to the tear from the sky. It seems that the major event is starting, a sensation wrapped itself around Hachiko and the next this she knew she was not on the walls of the castle anymore. She could feel Naofumi's blood ran cold from where she was standing. The village of Riyute stood just below them and from what it looks like; they are also a part of the wave.

"W-where are we?" Raphtalia asked.

"The village of Riyute," Hachiko asked with a grim expression.

It took the tanuki demi-human a few seconds before she realized why the name of that village was familiar. By the time she realized where she was, Naofumi had already begun issuing orders. "We need to find the one causing the tear from the sky, for all we know it could be anywhere from this place!"

Seeing him slowly dive into the depths of panic, Hachiko helped him out, "We don't need that right now…"

Naofumi gave her an incredulous look, but that all changed when she pointed at a direction. From the distance, he could see the other three heroes and their party members heading towards the forest. It didn't take Naofumi long to connect the dots that the three heroes are going to deal with the one responsible for the crimson tear in the sky. Hachiko then pointed out toward the village and the sight of what was about to fall on the village made Naofumi's spine chill.

Hordes of monsters that fell from the tear from the sky marched their way towards the village. It was obvious that the horde sees the village as nothing more than a mere bug that is about to be stepped on its boot. But seeing the village in ruins was none of his concern. What concerns him though was the fact that there were still some villagers that were still evacuating.

"Where are the soldiers?! Shouldn't they help out with the kingdom's evacuation?" he pointed out.

Again, Hachiko pointed at one direction, this time it was at the general direction of the kingdom of Melromarc. "They're at the kingdom. Hiding behind their walls. They will only come out once the reason for the tear in the sky is dealt with,"

Upon hearing those words, Naofumi clenched his fists to the point where it began to whiten. "Cowards!" he yelled out.

Raphtalia gave him a concerned look. She was about to ask him what they were supposed to do, but it looks like she was already beaten when Naofumi finally reigned in his anger, "We need to buy the villagers sometime to escape,"

Just as he said that the sound of a house collapsing reached their ears. "We don't have much time," Hachiko said. She turned to address her leader, "We have to split up. We'll cover more ground that way,"

Naofumi looked like he was going to object but, she reassured him by smiling at him with a calm look, "Don't worry… I've been trained for this,"

With a reluctant nod, the party of three made their way towards the attacked village.

* * *

Hachiko observed the army of monsters that were conjured up from the Wave. Rotting corpses that wore armour that was slightly more maintained than the ones wearing them. Their swords, rusty and battered and each step that took was like an encroaching mass of darkness. Unfortunately for them, that was as far as they will go. Hachiko twirled one of her daggers in her hand and then held it in a reverse grip. The entire army of corpses lined up the streets with none of them paying much attention to the Jumper because they think that she will be a minor target that isn't much to be bothered with.

She accessed her core and let out a [Berserker's Call] an ability from a character in the famous game [DOTA 2]: [Axe]. After shouting out to the enemy, they all decided that she should be dealt with first before continuing their conquest of crushing the village of Riyute. A corpse walked up to her and attacked her with a wild overhead strike. Hachiko swatted the attack away and proceeded to stab the temple of the corpse. The monster dropped like a sack of freshly bought fruits. She twirled her dagger again; she gave an unamused look at the group of monsters who looked quite confused as to why she wasn't dead yet.

Two more corpses joined the attack and again they were dealt with efficiently. Three, four, ten, twenty. No matter how many monsters the Wave sent, Hachiko dealt with them with ease. With all her skills throughout her years as a Jumper and an intensely vibrating dagger taking care of the monsters were simply chores to her. Eventually, the Wave had learned its lesson that Hachiko requires a stronger opponent to be defeated. Therefore, it had sent a large corpse that was three feet taller than her; its rotting muscles barely contained inside of the rusting armour. The monster gave out a roar before crashing its weapon – a club – down at Hachiko.

She dodged the blunt weapon with ease and used it to exploit the giant monster. Climbing up the club, she scaled the monster's arm. Once she was near the head, she stabbed it three times before jumping off. The monster fell with a loud thud making the earth shake for a moment. Looking around her surroundings it appears that despite her attempts to hold the entire Wave there were still some of its soldiers slipping past her. She leaned to the side to avoid a giant bug's stinger and countered it by slicing its abdomen open.

Two more took its place and Hachiko was more than happy to oblige. Sheathing her daggers, she pulled out her bow and nock two arrows. Both arrows found their mark and downed the two bugs that were making a beeline towards her. She went down on a knee and nock three arrows and let loose making them settle in three heads.

"Stay away!"

Hachiko snapped her head to the right to find a family's father defending his wounded spouse and their daughter who the mother was covering. The father was holding the monsters back with only a shovel. Hachiko frowned but she had to save them. She rushed towards them – pushing walking corpses and dodging zooming bugs at the same time. Once she reached them, she made quick work of the walking dead.

"Go!" she ordered as she ducked an attack from the enemy.

"B-but my wife…" he said.

Hachiko looked at the spouse's condition; there was a large horizontal wound on her leg which looked like it was done by a blade. Her lips were pale and skin was white, Hachiko clicked her tongue. She closed her eyes and accessed her Core.

'A forbidden jutsu that a certain ramen-loving ninja love to use, it was created by the second leader of their village. It allows the user to split its chakra to create solid clones that are independent of the original. If these clones are destroyed or dispelled, their memories and experience are transferred back to the original,'

"[Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu]!" Hachiko shouted after doing the correct gesture for the jutsu.

Two clouds of smoke appeared and what came out were two Jumpers that were of the same face, body and skill. Both Hachiko clones attacked the horde of monsters with their weapons that were cloned as well. As this was happening, the original Jumper turned her attention to the wounded spouse. Taking a knee, she pulled out her leather bag and began rummaging in it. She pulled out a few bandages, a needle of morphine and a suturing kit. While it is true that Jumpers are only able to create weapons and body modifications, that rule can be avoided by spawning one of the most convenient weapons in the whole universe: [Garry's Mod]'s [Tool Gun].

Once she had all that she needed she began her improvised surgery. Taking out the bottle of morphine, she pulled out an empty syringe and filled it up with the drug. She gave the spouse a look, who was looking at her with a panicked face. Calming down, she gave her a calm look and hovered the syringe right in front of her.

"The contents in inside this will numb the pain, you need this so that I won't screw up the next thing that's coming," she said.

The woman gave her a look before reluctantly agreeing to her. Hachiko looked at her daughter and gave a calming smile, "Hold your mother's hand, okay?"

The little girl did as she was told and held on her mother's hand tight. Without any warning she jabbed the needle along the side of the wound, she was glad that the feeling of the needle inside was overthrown by the amount of pain that she was experiencing with the wound. The sight of a corpse hitting the collapsed house beside them startled the family. Meanwhile, the original Hachiko was already sticking the suturing needle inside the open wound and began to close it. With her long experience as a Jumper, suturing the wound was easy. Once she was done, she began wrapping the wound with some bandages.

The sound of a ringing bell reached everyone's ears. Hachiko looked up to see her client, Naofumi, ringing the bell from above the tower. Just below him are the swarm of corpses and monsters that were clambering on each other just to gain some additional height. Hachiko saw Naofumi step out of the tower and began to pour oil. He set the entire tower on fire making it collapse due to its weakened legs. The family along with the horde of monsters watched as the building went down.

Once the tower fell there was a lapse of silence throughout the entire town. And it was during this lapse did Hachiko's partner, Ghost, speak. "I don't want to alarm you or anything but there is something dangerous that's going to happen soon,"

The voice and the warning that her companion gave was enough to jog her out of her trance and immediately remembered what happens next after the tower fell. She looked to the husband of the group who was helping out in killing the monsters of the Wave. She called out to him and told him to stay close to her. Not one to deny a more experienced person, the husband followed his orders. As the husband jogged towards her Hachiko noticed out of the corner of her eye, a few more villagers that failed to evacuate. She clicked her tongue but her sense of duty called to her and told her to save those villagers.

Accessing her Core, she modified her body to have the abilities of a particular speedster. Orange streaks followed her as she carried the family that she had just saved and clumped them up together with the group of villagers. Once she took off her power the family looked around with slight bewilderment at what just happened and how they got from where they are. Hachiko looked up just in time to see the bombardment of magic spells about to hit.

The villagers also saw this and were about to panic but they were calmed down when one of Hachiko's clones walked up to them and told all of them to stay close to the original copy. Accessing her Core once more, she began putting the lore in at the ability in the video game [Destiny]

'A power that was taken from the very void of space, turned into something unbreakable. A shield to the unyielding darkness, a wall that protects the Last City. And sometimes, a strong defence promotes an excellent offence,'

Spreading her arms outwards, she cast a [Ward of Dawn]. The purple bubble was erected just in time when the first of the bombardments landed. The villagers' screams turned into confusion then to awe when they looked up to see Hachiko protecting them. The [Ward of Dawn] never faltered under the pressure and held steadfastly.

Once the bombardment had finished the [Ward of Dawn] disappeared and she looked behind to see the villagers looking at her with slight awe, "Is everyone alright?"

* * *

 **A/N: Well, that's the newest chapter, I hope all of you enjoyed it. Sorry for the long delay I sort of lost interest with this story for a while. It wasn't until I get a private message from a reader telling me that he/she wanted to help me in making these stories. I'm not so high on a pedestal to not accept help so I said yes. That reader gave me the plot to work with making it easier for me to simply write out the lines in between.**

 **Anyways, the next chapter will be the aftermath of the Wave, and probably the fight between Naofumi and Motoyastu. Again, sorry for the long disappearance. I'd give an excuse but I feel like you guys won't like it. With my upload schedule having the same relationship with the word 'non-existent'. If things work out pretty well (Because I just finished high school and taking a long and deserved break before I go to college), I might increase the upload schedule from there. Do keep in mind; when I mention that I'll be uploading frequently basis doesn't mean I'll focus on this story only. I have other stories waiting for an update and people who are eager to read.**

 **If you are by any chance impatient with the next chapter for this story then I'd suggest that you read my other stories.**

 **With all that said and done, let us get right into the reviews!**

 **Have a Little Feith: Even if you consider the plot of the story lacklustre, I am still grateful that you still took you time to read my work. With that being said, I hope this newest instalment wouldn't disappoint you. Also, sorry for the late upload. I want to give a reason but I don't want to as I feel it just doesn't feel right.**

 **If my memory serves me right, Ren was the Sword Hero correct? I have not read the Light Novel nor the Web Novel, the only series that I'm following is the manga. Hopefully, the manga still follows close to the source.**

 **Sheild Bro: I appreciate your review about Sanmaru's viciousness. Don't worry, we'll see more of her being vicious too, not just the heroes but also to other people who threaten to hurt Naofumi.**

 **A tool that will let Princess Myne tell the truth…just to give you a hint; there are a lot and I mean A LOT of items in shows and games that force people to tell the truth. Things like a truth serum or if you want to go for something magical, Sanmaru could cast magic using the Core to cast some sort of 'truth spell'. If you're a comic buff then there is also the option of using Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth.**

 **Frankly speaking, the possibilities for how Princess Myne blurts out the truth would be countless.**

 **trangbui156: While I do agree that both Motoyatsu and Princess Myne need to be tortured for what they did to Naofumi you still need to consider the fact that these two helped Naofumi.**

 **How? Well, they helped him awaken the Cursed Series. I'm not against punishing them but even if the story doesn't tell us, they are still relevant (except Princess Myne, for all I care she could go and die in a ditch in my opinion). If Sanmaru tortured these two too much, bad things might happen to the 'Rising of the Shield Hero' universe as a while as Sanmaru is practically breaking the main canon events.**

 **That's not to say that she cannot interfere now and then. If her actions do not warrant future consequences then she would always take the opportunity. Remember this, while Jumpers focus mostly on their objective, the only canon events, be it side or main canon, that they can change without consequences would be their main objectives. Anything else that is changed could result in a failed contract.**

 **I hope you can understand.**

 **With all of that being said and done, I hope all of you enjoyed this chapter and with that, I bid you all adieu.**

 **Peace~**


	6. Main Objective: Sanmaru's Trust

**Main Objective: Sanmaru's Trust**

* * *

The scent of burning wood permeated across the village of Riyute. Monsters walked down the once humble streets to feast on human flesh and satisfy their thirst for destruction. On a particular street, a lone skeleton was thrown into a burning house, destroying it within. As it fell on the weak monster, more replaced its fallen brethren but they too were thrown left and right as they started to converge on the source.

Imagine their surprise when a lone woman stood among the beasts with her tattered cloak, armor still holding on and knives on each side of her hands. On her side was her bow, broken long before she started killing and hurling monsters to nearby heavily damaged houses, in short Sanmaru was getting angry. She knew that the villagers can't walk to safety from the remaining monsters so she has to fight until a path opened up.

A scream from her right made her look to see the wounded mother that she had treated minutes ago. A bug type monster was making a beeline towards her, her husband, along with the other villagers banded together to fight the beast only for it to be kicked by a summoned Sanmaru **[Shadow Clone]**. The bug careened to the side and was swallowed by the wall of flames that surrounded most of the village.

With no other option left now, she accessed her Core for the right weapon. The power from **[Star Wars]**.

" _The power that stretches across the cosmos. Only a select few could wield this and one with enough training can access it and made the prodigy into a fallen. The power to move and bend any material at will and will always be the most versatile of them all."_

Sanmaru then pointed her arm forward as the broken path before them suddenly became a path reaching to the forest, Sanmaru had called upon **[The Force]** to make a path for the villagers.

"Leave now!" She commanded the villagers who spared no expense to run away from the area.

She and her **[Shadow Clone]** stood between them as they made their way to safety. One of the flight monsters broke through as she threw her knives to it at blinding speed, making it to its spine and killing it. Once the beast fell, Sanmaru rushed up to it and pulled the knives out. With one of the knives in a reverse grip, she twirled around and stabbed a humanoid monster to the head. Yanking the blade out, she observed her surroundings.

"Sanmaru!" A familiar voice echoed across from her. She saw Naofumi and Raphtalia taking on their monsters as the Shield Hero did his best to deflect and cover most of the monsters' attack, giving way for Raphtalia to strike.

Running towards them, she felt the ground shake violently making them lose their sense of balance. In response, Sanmaru called upon **[Ghost]**.

" _Ghost I need a report on what's happening!"_ Sanmaru thought.

Her companion gave out a few beeps before the construct of **[Light]** spoke in her head. _"It looks like the other three summoned heroes had managed to stop the cause of the Wave,"_

" _Good, all we need is to kill the remaining monsters and we can be done,"_

" _Uh… I don't want to alarm you or anything but… there's another barrage incoming on our position!"_ A nervous Ghost said.

Just as Ghost said that an explosion was felt around them. All of them, including the last of the villagers who Naofumi protected, saw the last of the batch of monsters. Needless to say that this one is more deadly than the last.

The villagers were now quivering in fear, as it had them on their throats. Praying and thinking all the past life decisions that led them to this point, hoping one of the three Cardinal Heroes would come to save them. But none of them came from the sound of a roar.

Sanmaru clicked her tongue in annoyance, she accessed her Core and called upon the most useful tool in the known universe - **[Garry's Mod]** 's **[Tool Gun]**. Cycling through its options she found her quarry in the form of a metal stick. She aimed the **[Tool Gun]** at the ground near the group of villagers which spawned the metal stick that she had chosen.

Little did the villagers know, Naofumi and Raphtalia know that the metal stick was the one that will save their lives. For the item that the Jumper spawned came from the popular video game **[Halo]** the **[Z-4190 Temporal Protective Enfolder/ Stationary Shield]**. The bubble shield deployed itself just in time too. Confident that they are now safe, Sanmaru looked to Naofumi to see him hugging Raphtalia close with his shield arm raised and ready to take the brunt of the assault.

Confident in his abilities, the Jumper didn't worry about her client and decided that she'd worry about her self. Accessing her Core yet again. She deployed another **[Ward of Dawn]** and waited until the barrage ended. As this happened rage swam in her mind. As the bombardment was happening around her, her thoughts raced as she wondered what to do next. Clearly what was happening around her did not happen canonically hence why she is so tipped off. To her relief, the villagers were fine. The bubble shield from **[Halo]** did its job properly and protected all of them.

Once the last of the bombardment had finally ended, the female Jumper stopped using the **[Ward of Dawn]**. She made her way to the villagers who were still huddled up with each other. Taking out the [Tool Gun] once more, she set it on the [Remover] option and shot it at the metal rod which projected the shield. The rod disappeared along with the shield. Taking a moment, the family that she had saved hugged each other, happy that they could still be together longer.

"Is everyone alright?" the Jumper asked, again.

The villagers gave their thanks to which Sanmaru responded with a smiling nod. Once they said their piece she bid them get to safety to which they followed wholeheartedly. With the second bombardment done, most of the monsters that invaded Riyute had either been killed or are shambling what remains of their already reduced army, the villagers left the town safer than it was a few minutes ago.

* * *

The fire has already subsided, the villagers had already evacuated. Bodies of dead monsters were littered on the streets, yet it seems that no matter how many monsters Naofumi's group killed there's always a straggler among them to deal with.

"Please, tell me that's the last of them," Naofumi said with ragged breaths as he observed around him for any remaining monsters. "I didn't know a Wave could be this tiring,"

"Umm, Naofumi-sama…" Raphtalia was now kneeling using her sword as a crutch. "It was also a first for me as well. But with all the reports I heard from being captured, no one mentioned of a prolonged battle." Sanmaru went to her and helped Raphtalia stand.

"I agree. This was a first for me as well." _'This is different from the original plot, am I already changing the canon events this quickly?''_ Sanmaru cut her thoughts short when she sensed something coming.

"Look over there, Naofumi-sama!"Raphtalia shouted at the shimmering dust towards them.

From a distance, Sanmaru and Naofumi could see a cloud of dust coming towards them. As the cloud of dust came closer everyone still in the village could recognize the familiar silver-clad soldiers. Leading them was a man with a questionable mustache; he was wearing a thicker set of steel armor with the standard knight sword. Upon reaching the village, he looked around with a satisfied look on his face.

"It seems that the bombardment was successful, these cretins are finally dead thanks to our might," The knight commander roared in pride along with other knights who agree with him.

When the commander of the knights said that, Naofumi's blood boiled. Sanmaru as well since this wasn't the first time she saw someone like this; **[Esdeath]** from **[Akame ga Kill]** was one thing but those buffoons in **[Dead Rising]** wanting to destroy an entire city filled with civilians just because they were 'mildly' infected then selling the antidote for unreasonable prices just to make a fortune was another. And she wanted to destroy the former.

"What?" He didn't care anymore. He wanted to show the world what this idiot did to satisfy an order. But he didn't care, because all he wanted was to murder the bastard in front of him. "What did you say, you bastard?"

The commander looked at the Shield Hero with a look that told everyone 'I couldn't care less'. This look further enraged Naofumi as he slowly walked towards the knight commander. Slightly intrigued by his behaviour the commander raised his spear and pointed it at him.

"Step aside Shield Hero, I still need to assist the heroes who are defending this ki-," His speech fell short as the front of his spear was suddenly cut off. He looked to see Sanmaru with a glare to rival gods. "You…!"

"Shut up." One word made the commander look at Naofumi who was also glaring at him.

Taken aback by his disrespect, the knight commander rebounded with a smirk, "Looks like you need to remember your place, _rapist_. You're only living in the kingdom because you're a Hero. If you weren't then no one is even going to remember you when you die,"

Naofumi gritted his teeth in anger but then realized something that made him grin wider than the knight commander. "Yeah, and no one will remember you either so why should I save you from the monsters behind you?"

By the end of that sentence, the knight commander gave a confused look, "Monsters?"

This lapse of confusion was more than enough for the monster behind them to attack them. Raising its club, the monster swiped it across throwing the knights off their horses. In the span of a few seconds, most of the knights were off their horses and were in a sense of disarray. Panicked screams came out of their mouths as they were slowly killed one by one.

When they all faced the monster, it was a new one they had never seen before. A daunting 9'6 with a very masculine body and the hooves of a bull. Most of the mass of muscles were at the upper body and at its hands was a bloody tree club, gripping it tightly. Its face was the most defining part of the monster, as it resembles a man and a bull with a ring on its snout and 2 foot long horns at its forehead, in a deadly headbutt. It roared like a mad bull.

"I-I thought the bombardment had killed them already!?"

"I don't want to die!"

"Tell my wife and kids that I love them!"

The knight commander managed to get some semblance of control. With a loud voice, he called all the knights to rally. The knights' training kicked in and regained control. With the shields on their arms, they formed a wall in hopes to block the next incoming blow. Unfortunately, it seems that the strength of the minotaur won out and penetrated the hastily formed wall.

The minotaur disregarded the fallen knights and went for the commander who had a look of fear and panic. He started back crawling his way to a nearby lamppost as he stood up with his back-up sword on his hand. However, it started to shake uncontrollably as the minotaur walked closer to him.

With every step, the ground shook every breath a gust of wind and a roar to deafen the ears it sped towards the commander praying for the heroes to come and save him. He prayed, hoped, swore even to save him from this beast.

And the answer came in a translucent green shield.

The minotaur bounced back as the shield disappeared in dust. It looked around for the source and saw a group of people. One male and two females. "Raphtalia!" The male shouted as the female to his left ran to it and sliced its leg.

The minotaur bellowed at the sudden pain but it increased when he felt another one at his other leg. The cause of this pain was Sanmaru. After Raphtalia's attack, Sanmaru joined in and decided to cripple the mythological creature. Despite these grievous wounds, the minotaur persisted. It raised its club and brought it down on the two girls. Unfortunately for the minotaur, its attack would never reach the girls as a translucent shield blocked it. The club bounced back against the shield forcing the minotaur to create an opening that Sanmaru easily exploited.

Reaching in her pockets she discreetly spawned two knives and threw it at the monster. The bladed weapons flew true and lodge themselves deep in the minotaur's throat. The minotaur stumbled back as it tried to remove the blades embedded in its throat. Taking this moment of lapse, Raphtalia moved, using the Sanmaru's back as a stepping stone, she launched herself at the monster.

Sword at the ready, with a war cry, she thrusts her blade to the head of minotaur. The sword dug deep in the monster making it cry in pain. The minotaur struggles a few more times before it finally gave in to its wounds. Its large body fell back with a loud thud. Raphtalia stood on top of the corpse, her gaze swept across the sacred knights with an upset look on her face. Meanwhile, the emotion that marred Sanmaru's face was one of anger.

If it were up to her to decide, these knights wouldn't have lived but they had to be saved against her wishes. Walking away from the dead monster, she made a beeline for the knight commander who was dusting himself. It looked like he was going to say something but he was immediately cut off when the Jumper grabbed onto his chest-plate and with an ease that surprised the others.

"P-put me down this instant," the commander said.

She closed the distance between their faces. Once she did she flared a large amount of bloodlust that focused on the commander. Everyone suddenly felt their stomachs drop when the air suddenly turned cold.

For the commander, on the other hand, he felt the bloodlust in full force; his eyes were like pinpricks and were dilated. Cold sweat dripped from his forehead. His fight or flight instincts were yelling at him that the woman in front of her could kill him in more ways than one. He wanted to move but his body didn't allow him.

"So, kindly explain why did you cast another bombardment?" Sanmaru 'kindly' asked the commander while having a vice on his chest-plate.

The commander stuttered an answer but nothing came. Sanmaru eased the bloodlust a little giving some breathing room for the commander but gripped his chest-plate further, making it squeal. With a stuttered voice, he spoke, "T-t-the he-heroes o-ordered the b-b-bombardment," He prayed, oh he prayed hard to let the woman in front of him let go of his chest-plate.

Sanmaru stared at the commander for a second longer before finally releasing him from her grip. The once entitled man fell to the ground unceremoniously. He clutched his chest while inhaling some much-needed air. Walking away from the man, Sanmaru had one last thing to say before she left him to his job.

"The next time I see you do something as dumb as this… I'll personally make sure you never have spouses," With the warning in mind, Sanmaru walked back to Naofumi who was standing just in front of a once holy church.

The Shield Hero had a morbid look on his face as he scanned the once peaceful town of Riyute. From a distance, Sanmaru heard the conversation that was happening between them.

"Master Naofumi… I-I did well, right? Now, children won't become orphans… right?" She said. Seeing the long-year stare he had in his eyes, Raphtalia spoke again, "Whatever happens… I will be your sword… I-I will protect you,"

"Sure," Naofumi said numbly.

With his confirmation said, Naofumi looked forward, she spotted Sanmaru walking towards him. A small glimmer of hope shone in his eyes. That shine proved to him that whatever comes his way, she will be there to help him. "Sanmaru."

"Mr. Naofumi. How is she?"

"She's getting better."

"I can tell…" Sanmaru looked towards Raphtalia as she dusts off some of her clothes.

"...Thank you." Naofumi thanked her. For something, he wanted to do.

"For what?" Sanmaru asked while sheathing her knives and looking at Naofumi.

"For what you did to that commander. I know it will give us more bad rep but if you didn't do what you did, I would have killed him myself. So, thank you."

Sanmaru was surprised by this event, sure her life as Jumper she had praises coming from kings, princesses, knights, an entire country and even a god. But they were all that they wanted her to do, do this, do that but to hear praise from doing something that wasn't an order, felt good.

"Oh, well…" She didn't know what to say. She could have shrugged it off but this praise was different, sticking to her as a medal and will never let go. "Your-"

"Alright, I know you don't like this sort of thing so let's go get Raphtalia and move on." Naofumi calmly stated while walking towards Raphtalia.

With a nod, the party of three left the village of Riyute without the danger of the Wave.

* * *

 **A/N:** **Here's a new update! Wow, a new update this fast! I wonder what happened? Surprise! I had someone to help me finish this chapter. He's a good person which helped me sort all of my ideas. It seems like we're going to be collaborating for a while if it improves my non-existent upload to 'slightly' existent existence. He goes by the name of BookWorm1540.**

 **With that being said, say hi Bookworm1540. Be nice to him everyone.**

 **A/N 2** **: Hello everybody. I indeed have been helping Imaginationburstingout with his story because I want this story to be heard around. This is a one-in-a-million story out there and is still growing. I'm also a beginner in the story making business since I just started it a year ago but hopefully, everyone will take it nicely and let's continue this relationship we have.**

 **A/N:** **With that, all said and done, time for me to get to read the reviews!**

 **Have a Little Feith:** **I didn't even know that the other heroes have their own Curse Series… thanks for that information! I haven't read the light novel for the anime and while I know the light novel has offered more, I prefer the manga. Hopefully, the manga doesn't stray away from the source.**

 **trangbui156:** **Again, sorry my non-existent upload schedule. But with Bookworm1540 helping me around, things should begin to look up for me.**

 **With all of that said and done I bid you all adieu!**

 **Peace~**


	7. Main Objective: The Shield's Curse 1

**Main Mission: The Shield's Curse 1**

* * *

The Kingdom of Melromarc was celebrating, the Wave has been pushed back which meant that it bought more time for the citizens to live their comfortable lives. This was all thanks to three Cardinal Heroes: The Spear Hero, Bow Hero and the Sword Hero. While it was obvious that one person was missing, it seemed that the crowd that had assembled to greet the victors didn't care.

Naofumi was at the buffet table with his arms crossed and a sharp glare to everyone present, especially to the three idiot heroes who had promised that they would all help each other. That promise was only written in the water though for when his time of need came, their heads just turned the other way. The armour that he wore was a complete contrast to what they wore but served him well enough, he may want to thank Erhard for the next time he visits.

"Mister Naofumi, you should eat something!" Raphtalia invited as she held a plate of food.

The Shield Hero shook his head, "I'm fine, I'm not hungry,"

Hearing his denial, Raphtalia puffed her cheeks in slight irritation before walking off to the buffet table only to pick up every food that was on the table. Meanwhile, Sanmaru was near her client, having a small mental talk with Ghost. Ghost, on the other hand, was working tirelessly, sorting out information left and right as fast as he could. An autonomous machine as he is, he still has limitations.

" _Anything else affected?"_ Sanmaru asked.

A few beeping noises were heard in her head, _"Fortunately, that secondary bombardment hasn't messed up the timeline of events."_

The Jumper nodded as she saw the Spear Hero approach her. The idiot saw her and grinned with pride as he walked towards her. "Hello, Lady Sanmaru."

Sanmaru inwardly cringed at that nickname he had just called her, even Ghost gagged at that nickname. As this was happening she was already planning more devious torture methods for the Spear Hero. She will later set those plans in motion after Naofumi gets his revenge.

As the Spear Hero reached within arms-reach, the scorn that marred her beautiful face became deeper. Thought it was obvious that the Spear Hero didn't care about boundaries has he slowly inched himself closer and closer to her. The disgust inside her stomach continued to build up like that ever-arrogant smile on his face tried to pierce her heart.

Which failed. Miserably at that.

A sick thought appeared in the back of the Jumper's mind telling her that she should just take him and torture him back at headquarters when she's done with this contract. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on who is being talked about, that thought process was immediately stopped. Knowing it was pointless to entertain him further, Sanmaru turned her attention to Naofumi, which perplexed the Spear Hero as he tried to get his way again.

His attempt to turn her attention to him was immediately stopped when she invaded his space in a second. "Listen close and listen well. If you don't leave me alone after three seconds, I will guarantee to you that what you will feel will be ten times more painful than what you witnessed on the kingdom's walls. And this time I will make sure that blood comes out,"

Now in Jumper 0008's line of work, she had met thousands of men who had attempted to get in between her legs. Of course, all of them had failed. She had completely made it obvious to them that she wasn't interested or that she didn't even consider them as a potential boyfriend. Along the way, some men were too damn dense to get the message so she had to resort to using force. While the action was unnecessary, she had to get her point across somehow good thing the saying 'actions speak louder than words' still apply to pretty much any universe she jumps to.

Usually, the action taken is small, like a shove and a declaration that she wasn't interested would be more than enough to get the message across. But some people just can't take 'no' for an answer, seeing one of them right in front she wanted to show him the grave that he was digging himself in to but she has to wait. Time will come, and when it does…

She will enjoy every second of it... That sadistic bitch, **[Esdeath]** is rubbing off of her.

Motoyatsu recoil in fear, as he remembered all of the pain when he was close to her and went back to hide behind his party of scantily clad women.

Smirking, Sanmaru went back to see Raphtalia goading Naofumi into eating the food that she had piled on his separate plate. She smiled at the gesture the Demi-Human is trying to allure her master into eating and relented. The Jumper shook her head in amusement as Naofumi gave her answer. "No." Just in canon.

As she was walking, she noticed the slutty princess whispered something into the Spear Hero's ear making him seethe with rage. For a split second, Sanmaru was confused until she remembered this moment, which was the original deal from her buyer but was changed for a better purpose, the duel.

"Naofumi!" Motoyatsu called out as he walked to him a disillusioned but with determination. The boom of his voice made every patron turn to them. As he got closer, he saw the slave with the food and made him angrier.

Sanmaru moved between the crowds and stood next to Naofumi and Raphtalia. She sent a glare to the Spear Hero, who recoiled, but paid it no mind as his attention was now at his fellow hero.

"I heard all about it..." Motoyatsu pointed at Raphtalia and Sanmaru with hate in his eyes. "That you made these two girls your slaves!"

Minor conversations were already taking place around the castle about how a hero took a slave, as the king and the remaining heroes went over to see what is happening. "Only Raphtalia. Problem with that?"

Naofumi's nonchalant way of speaking with Motoyatsu pushed plenty of buttons for the Spear Hero. He clutched his fist in anger as he decided then and there that he should deliver some rightful 'justice'.

He then shoved Sanmaru away as he gripped Naofumi's collar and lifted him to eye level. "Even if you had made poor Raphtalia into a slave, that doesn't excuse you for making her into one. Who knows, you might also have Sanmaru on some sort of spell!"

Sanmaru was about to stand up and protect him but she then noticed that guards were approaching her. One of them held her back preventing her from reaching her client. Using her Core, her strength increased by tenfold. Grabbing one guard by the arm she threw him over her back making him collide on the ground hard.

More guards tried to detain her; some have weapons pointed at her. Irritation flared on her face as she decided that it wasn't worth wasting time on them. Using her Core once more she accessed an ability that made her reach speed up to Mach 20.

' _A master assassin of his generation. He was taken and experimented on. His body lost its human form which was replaced by yellow tentacles which provided him speed that can reach insane levels. He's also a teacher for a classroom of failures but shined as respectable assassins.'_

 **The Core has allowed Jumper 0008 access to [Assassination Classroom - Koro-Sensei]'s Mach 20 speed**

Not skipping a beat, she zoomed all over the guards, taking all of their weapons along the way. All of this had just happened in less than a millisecond. By the time all the guards had noticed that she had confiscated all of their weapons, she was already accessing her Core for another power. A power that came from a galaxy far, far away. Using **[The Force]** , she then levitated the swords that she had taken and pointed it a centimetre away from all of the guards' throats. All of them froze, too wrapped up in confusion and fear as to what had just happened.

Sanmaru then flared her killing intent around her. Amplifying it with **[Koro-Sensei's]** own to make it harder to breathe.

The temperature in the ballroom dropped drastically as all heads were now focused on the pissed off Jumper. Unknown to all of them though, Sanmaru had excluded her killing intent to her client, Raphtalia, and begrudgingly, Motoyatsu. The reason being that she needed him to challenge Naofumi if the Spear Hero hesitates even for a second it would disturb the entire canon event. Therefore, she needs him to challenge Naofumi with complete confidence. To win for him and Raphtalia.

Seeing the events come in to play, with Motoyatsu throwing his cloth glove at him and his declaration for a duel. The conditions were all said and set in stone; the removal of the slave contract and the release of Sanmaru from the hypnotising spell. He even told the guards to personally stop Sanmaru from interfering that would be a violation and could result in Sanmaru being labelled as a criminal.

Hearing these conditions, Sanmaru huffed. "What's the point if you label me a criminal when you quickly labelled him for a crime that he didn't commit?"

A murmur started to surround the air as they all looked at the Jumper with mild disdain. They all looked at Sanmaru with hate and with an evil glint in their eyes.

"You don't know what the princess had to go through!"

"Have you ever been raped!?"

"I'm sure he even raped you without even knowing!"

The crowd started to protest at her, some even tried to calm the slowly raging crowd by telling them that it was not her fault and that the Shield Hero hypnotised her into doing it. Sanmaru did her calming technique of breathing in and out. While she could just prove it all of them right here and right now that she was not raped by her client, she halted. Proceeding anymore could just result in changing the canon events, which in turn could result in a failed mission.

Taking a long deep breath, she accessed her Core to access a powerful type of magic. The legendary language of the dragons from the popular RPG game **[Skyrim - The Elder Scrolls V]**

' _It was once a language that was used by mythic beasts, terrorising the populace with nothing but sheer words, people cowered in fear under the sounds of loud Shouts that could render Time and Space asunder. A goddess pitied the people and told one of the beasts, to teach the language to them. Normal mortals could learn this language but it takes time but a certain individual can learn this language by absorbing the souls of these mythic beasts.'_

 **Core has allowed Jumper 0008 access to [Skyrim - The Elder Scrolls V]'s [Shout]**

" **Nahlot, kos stiildus!"** She **[Shouted].**

The entire ballroom shook under those three powerful words, walls rumbled, slight cracks could be seen crawling up. The nobles in the ballroom froze, a sudden realisation came immediately when they noticed that none of them could open their mouth barring Naofumi, Raphtalia and Motoyatsu. Many nobles were shaking in fear. The King, Princess and the two other heroes were dripping cold sweat as they tried to assess how dangerous the Jumper is while unable to utter a single word.

With the entire ballroom in pin-drop silence, Sanmaru spoke yet again, "We'll do this pointless duel. Once it is over, I will personally make sure you all can speak again, to the people who are still disillusioned after this battle, I will hunt you down and make you wish that you can never speak. Of course, I'll let give you guys some time to pack up and leave the damn kingdom… usually, I'd do it right here and right now. But since I have more pressing matters, I'm going to let you guys live for a while… be grateful,"

Sanmaru then disabled **[The Force]** making all of the swords that were aimed at the guards' necks drop. Loud clanging noises echoed in the ballroom. She made no other indication of speaking as she made her way to the location to where the fight was going to happen. With the looks of irritation still plastered on her face.

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 **BookWorm1540:** **Phew, this was a doozy of a chapter since I and Imaginationsburstingout have to figure out how this plays out with Sanmaru and her personality. This is still making her base but we should get a good result with this.**

 **Imaginationsburstingout:** **That you are right BookWorm1540, as of this moment, we are still creating Sanmaru's character. While at the same time trying to progress through the story without her messing with the canon events. As for the Shout at the near end of the chapter? Well… it's not like it's going to affect the main storyline. Melty will still cheat in the duel, Naofumi will still unlock the Curse Series of his weapon. The only thing that will change is the fact that people, barring the Three Cardinal Heroes, will be more hesitant when saying something right in front of Naofumi when Sanmaru is around.**

 **What Sanmaru did wasn't a threat, well technically it is but at the same time what she's doing is 'marking her territory' I guess. I mean her original mission was to ease the suffering of Naofumi, right? So, she is doing her job, while at the same time have Naofumi suffer enough so that he could unlock the Shield's Curse Series. It's kind of like Goldilocks' 'Too hot, too cold and just enough'.**

 **BookWorm1540** **: Big Brain time.**

 **Imaginationsburstingout:** **HAHAHAHAHA Anyways, with that, said and done, let us read some of the reviews!**

* * *

 _ **Have a Little Feith:**_ _ **Supposedly, every hero that has been summoned in the past also had their curse series. Fitoria knew this, which is why she's restricted Naofumi's use of that shield. Supposedly, the Curse series eventually devours the soul, unless you can permanently overcome the curse. In the WN, Naofumi does that when he gets a Shield called something like the "Shield of the Companion". That is if I'm recalling correctly. I won't say how he got it since that's major spoilers, but as of that point, Naofumi is the first to overcome the curse, of this generation of heroes. Not sure if anyone else will overcome the curse, but the fact that Reprise of the Spear Hero is a thing... Yeah, odds aren't looking too good for 2 out of the 3. Ren is the next likeliest to overcome the curse.**_

 **Imaginationsburstingout:** **I haven't read Reprise of the Spear Hero; all I'm reading is the manga. That's the storyline that I am following to this day. If Ren acquires his Curse Series that would be kind of nice. I don't know, in my eyes, Ren is still neutral to me.**

 **BookWorm1540:** **It would be interesting to see that. Naofumi unlocking the fullest potential of his shield along with Ren. I care little for the other 2 heroes.**

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 _ **VGBlackwing:**_ _ **huh will Sanmaru meet mister "I am a hero" bow (bitch in my opinion) cause I can tell she know justice and Justice can be cruel there are always winners and losers in Justice if the winners are accuser and defame an innocent man because they want to have a kick out of it mostly saying "oh he rape me" not only are you sending an innocent man to prison but you are ruining his future and the family suffers and cries because their child is in prison for nothing and when the truth comes out the accuser get a less sentence then the accuse mostly 2 years or 3 while the accused suffer 20 years of their life (this is an example that happens somewhere in the 2010s)**_

 _ **pretty sure the only idiots in the shield hero series are the bow (justice freak) and Spear (hypothetical idiot) sword was neutral to everything because all 4 of them are in a different world but saying nothing and not helping the accused is the same thing as executing them**_

 **BookWorm1540:** **Oh, don't worry about that… I have some ideas for the Bow Hero, kukuku~**

 **But, in a way, Sanmaru does know what Justice is since she has seen [Persona 5] and been with them to the end so, yeah…**

 **I agree with you wholeheartedly. Only the Sword Hero sees the best common sense when assessing the situation if only the Spear and Bow heroes could be like him…**

 **Imaginationsburstingout:** **I mean Sanmaru does hang out with Naofumi so I'm guessing it will be inevitable, though I believe that will happen much later into the story. In my eyes, Ren is still neutral, he hasn't done anything yet that would warrant the wrath of the entire fandom. Motoyatsu is just the 'annoying hate' but the Bow Hero is the bastard that I want to suffer, I feel bad for that one party member he had to kick out just because she had more fame than him when the next Wave came.**

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 _ **trangbui156:**_ _ **Thank you for this Chapter it was again great can't wait for the next one and also good work.**_

 **Imaginationsburstingout:** **Thanks for the input!**

 **BookWorm1540:** **We'll be sure to surpass your expectations.**

* * *

 **Guest:** _ **Good**_

 **Imaginationsburstingout:** **Thanks for the input!**

 _ **BookWorm1540:**_ **You're welcome.**

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 _ **Guest:**_ _ **Not really no. It works with the summary of this precise story, but not much anything else.**_

 **Imaginationsburstingout:** **The premise that I was making when I wrote that prologue was that there is a system in the Jumpers' HQ where they can Jump to a world they want with the power to edit some factors at the cost of a pricey outcome. I mean they can always just change the infected from the default zombie to the zombies from the video game [Left 4 Dead].**

 **Think of it like making your custom server. You have the liberty to do whatever you want. Besides, both [The Last of Us] and [Highschool of the Dead] have the same genre, Zombie Apocalypse.**

 **BookWorm1540:** **That's why there's a site like this to see something like this. While yes, the zombies from [Last of Us] would give a disadvantage to the people who are still living there, let us assume that this is real as in the zombies are real.**

 **The most basic function of a human being is "Adapt", how to survive, hunt and kill. I haven't watched the Anime but even I know that they are protected by the thicc plot armour. If you don't like it, then sorry but it's staying there.**

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 **BookWorm1540:** **Well now, that was a first. Wasn't expecting a line break for each review but whatever. Later on, we'll do the fight and it will feature Raphtalia and her trust with Naofumi. Maybe even Sanmaru but we shall see.**

 **Imaginationsburstingout:** **Since you're helping me out now, things are going to change, one of them should be the review section. In all honesty, I think the review section of this chapter is going to eat up more of our time than the actual story.**

 **My fingers are tired :(**

 **BookWorm1540:** **HA! You tell me. I think this is the most rewarding part of making a story. Hey, I have a theory.**

 **What if we were the directors of the Jumpers?**

 **Imaginationsburstingout:** **I mean I did make the Jumpers, you helped along the way, that makes me the CEO while you're the Vice-CEO… if that's even a word.**

 **BookWorm1540:** **It isn't… I think. See ya!**

 **Imaginationsburstingout:** **Well, with all of that said and done we bid you all adieu!**

 **Peace~**


	8. Main Objective: The Shield's Curse 2

**Main Mission: The Shield's Curse 2**

* * *

The nobles from many distinguished houses were nervous. The source of these feelings was caused by the two heroes that their king and princess had summoned. After hearing the declaration for a challenge, the celebration for the party had stopped and was now replaced with a large arena with viewing seats so that the nobles could see the duel between the Shield Hero and the Spear Hero.

While it was obvious that everyone present, barring a few people supported the Spear Hero's _heroics_. They dared not to speak it out… rather, they couldn't speak it out. It was not because they were being threatened, no. They simply cannot speak, though all of the nobles could assume that the reason for their moment of silence was because of the woman who partied up with the Shield Hero.

Said woman, could be seen watching over the upcoming battle on top of a VIP area. Guards surrounded her and not even a moment did she notice that they lowered her guard around her. All of them were tense, sweat slid down their foreheads and for every small movement that she did, the guards would immediately hover their arms over their sheathed swords.

While the guards were sweating nervously at her mere presence, Sanmaru, on the other hand, was having some amusement at the guards' paranoia of her. The small movements that she did were all on purpose just to see them twitch. She wondered how much more she can do this just to drive them insane.

"The match will now begin. Introducing the Spear Hero!". Many nobles stood up and clapped at the Spear Hero as he walked to the stage with an idiotic smile.

Motoyatsu smiled with arrogance as he saw everyone clap for him, feeling full of himself and powerful from all the support he received. Reaching his destination, his eyes fell to Sanmaru and flinched in horror as she had a smirk on her face. The guards already pointing their weapons at her didn't help as she had the power to made everyone mute.

"Now introducing, his opponent. The Shield Hero," The announcer didn't even hide it, the tone in his voice was that of disappointment and slight disgust.

Everyone stopped clapping upon the mention of his title as Naofumi walked to the stage with an unimpressed look. When he saw Sanmaru smirking, he smirked as well and faced his opponent.

"Motoyatsu. How are you doing on this fine evening?" Lacing his voice with sarcasm, Naofumi readied himself.

Motoyatsu glared hard at him, realising what he's doing. Provoking him to just attack. Instead of replying, he readied his weapon and pointed it at Naofumi.

"The match will now commence. Victory will go to the one who can make their opponent yield,"

Both stared at each other, one with the determination of 'freeing' the two women 'in need'. While the other stared back with hatred, hatred for his betrayal.

"Begin!"

Upon hearing the announcer's call, the battle started. Motoyatsu made a beeline towards Naofumi, quickly closing the gap between them. When he reached the midway point, he jumped high, spear at the ready and performed a thrust that was expectedly blocked by Naofumi. Still stuck in mid-air, he twisted his body so that the blade of the spear would strike Naofumi's shoulder. Of course, this was blocked as well.

"Hmph, seems like you can defend yourself, it should be expected since you're the Shield Hero," Motoyatsu said, voice filled with confidence.

Naofumi didn't say anything and instead shoved the spear away using his shield. This action opened up his entire body for the Naofumi to exploit. Fortunately for him, his reflexes were sharp. Quickly fixing his body to a suitable position, he jumped back from Naofumi's reach. Once he gained a reasonable gap, Motoyatsu used his eyes to measure the health bar that was hovering above his opponent. Noticing that his initial attack barely did any damage irritated him, especially since the fact that he was level 42 while Naofumi was half of his level.

Activating his skill, [Chaos Spear], the Spear Hero once again prepared for a large attack. Pulling his spear back, the gem that resided in the pommel of the spear started to glow a bright yellow. With a thrust of his spear, the weapon of his namesake projected countless strikes that forced the Shield Hero to defend himself. To everyone's surprise, Naofumi managed to block most of the attacks. Unfortunately, he couldn't block all of them, one of the strikes nicked him on the shoulder, while the damage was shallow, that didn't stop Naofumi from backing away from him.

Meanwhile, on top of the seat where the nobles watched, Raphtalia gave out a muffled scream for concern as she watches her master get hurt for her sake. On the other hand, Sanmaru had an indifferent face. It's not long now, Naofumi's Curse Series is drawing closer, she just needs him to suffer a little more. She hopes that when this is all over, her client will recover safely instead of committing suicide.

Back to the duel, Naofumi now closes the distance. Seeing this, Motoyatsu cursed under his breath and decided to intercept him, with his spear pointed at the Shield Hero, he prepared himself for another combat.

Naofumi carefully watched Motoyatsu's arm as they both closed the gap. Seeing the small twitch of his arm brought him on full alert. Meanwhile, Motoyatsu attacked Naofumi with another thrust. This time, though, the Shield Hero didn't bring up his sacred weapon instead, with his right arm, the arm without the shield, he redirected the point of the spear at the last second. This was a problem for Motoyatsu since his body is now exposed while his spear was too close to do any form of harm to Naofumi.

Meanwhile, Naofumi's shield arm was still free. With a grunt, he punched Motoyatsu right in the solar plexus. Now normally, this would leave the person out of breath or possibly unconscious but fortunately for the Spear Hero, he was wearing armour that protected his front body. He gave himself a small grin as the punch that his opponent delivered barely hurt. Though, unknown to him, Naofumi planned on getting in his guard.

A short cry of pain escaped from the Spear Hero's mouth as he backed away from the Shield Hero. Curiosity started to flood in the arena as they all wondered in silence as to what made their beloved Spear Hero cry in pain. Their answers were given when that all saw the cause for his pain.

Orange and circular in colour, it was large enough to be held by an open palm. It had two holes that were shaped like angry eyes. It also sported a sharp mouth even though it was made of rubber.

" _A Balloon!?"_ the red-haired princess thought. Many nobles were also flabbergasted to the method the Shield Hero did but they also flared their anger. Bringing allies to a one-on-one fight? Preposterous!

Motoyatsu looked at Naofumi with rage-filled eyes. Meanwhile, Naofumi flared his entire cape revealing the arsenal that he was going to use to combat the Spear Hero. Balloons cling on to his sides with their mouths. Upon seeing the monsters that he was hiding, the crowd started to become worried.

"I know I can't beat you in a fight, so I'm going to do my best to make you suffer as much as possible!" Naofumi declared with an evil and confident smirk.

Motoyatsu gritted his teeth at the dishonourable display that Naofumi showed. His heroic visage started to crumble down, this was replaced by a scowl that represented the rage that he's feeling now. Too blinded by rage, he blindly charged at the Shield Hero. Meanwhile, Naofumi saw this as an opportunity and grinned. Motoyatsu attacked Naofumi with an overhead strike. Of course, his overhead strike was performed too early which made it easier for Naofumi to block it.

Both shield and spear interlocked with each other for a few seconds, both of their wielders using their strength to overpower the other. Despite this though, it was the Spear Hero who was at a disadvantage. Upon the last second, before both sacred weapons collided, Naofumi changed the type of shield he's using to the {Twin-Headed Dog Shield}. The eyes of the twin-headed dog shield glowed and suddenly came to life. The dogs' fangs bit down on Motoyatsu's right arm making him groan in pain.

"Let go of me!" He protested.

Unfortunately, the grip that both dogs had been like vices. Motoyatsu was forced to back off with a jump making the dogs let go of his arm. Unknown to him though, Naofumi was planning on him to back off. Switching his shield to its default one he cast another skill.

"[Air Strike Shield]!"

The familiar translucent shield was propelled from his arm and with alarming speed, made a beeline towards Motoyatsu. The shield collided with Motoyatsu's stomach. Despite the high-grade armour that he's wearing, the pointed bottom that the translucent shield had was more than enough to ignore the armour. Spit and air escaped out of Motoyatsu's mouth as he reeled back in pain. Unfortunately, Naofumi wasn't done. With a fling of his cape, two Balloons were thrown towards Motoyatsu in tandem with that action, the Shield Hero cast another skill.

"[Shield Prison]!"

The Spear Hero was encased inside of a spherical barrier that was made of green shields and locked up with chains. This action locked prevented the Spear Hero from using his weapon since it was too long and the space occupied was too small, while at the same time, two Balloons were trapped inside with him.

The audience started to give each other worried glances as the ball made up of shields started to rock to and from with the Spear Hero giving out some pained complaints. Other than giving concerned glances, the audience were also giving scorned looks at the Spear Hero's enemy. Naofumi didn't care about the public's opinion though, the Shield Hero will do what he needs to do to get the redemption that he seeks and the revenge that he hungers.

He made his way to the prison of shields with a frown on his face. Dispelling the prison, a feeling of satisfaction bubbled up inside of him when he looked down on the Spear Hero's defeated state.

"So?" Naofumi said, waiting of Motoyatsu's answer.

"I won't… let you… have your… way…," Motoyatsu huffed in defiance.

Naofumi sighed, "well… your funeral," He then sported an evil smile, with a Balloon on each hand, he spoke. "Now then, which one should I let the Balloons bite first, that empty head of yours or that thing you treasure in between your legs?!"

As the fight was nearing the end, Sanmaru sighed. The guards, again, raised their weapons on her as the shaking intensified but the Jumper didn't care. She saw Melty at the stands with her arms raised and cast a spell she knew was the start of the curse series. She silently devised another plan to kill her when she was done with her client's objectives.

With a heavy heart, she watched as the spell hit Naofumi's back making him stumble to the ground. That one moment, when life was starting to like you, it stabs you in the most expected and undeserving way it knows how.

"Here we go,"

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 **Imaginationsburstingout:** **Looks like we've finally reached this point, the most crucial turning point for our Shield Hero. Tell us your thoughts in the reviews, how was the fight? Are everyone's reactions warranted? We're always happy to read them! Constructive criticisms will be taken into thought. Special thanks to BookWorm1540 for helping me out in this chapter.**

 **By the way, just a small competition. What kind of magical item/relic/weapon etc. should we use for telling the truth? We tried the Lasso of Truth but we can't pinpoint the lore behind Diana's weapon. All that I could find was the fact that it enforces absolute obedience on the victim.**

 **BookWorm1540** **: We tried to make it the lasso burns the victim's souls so that he/she can tell the truth but we don't know as I never read any comics about Diana or the gods or any comics at all. And we were so close to ending this arc but Imaginations suggested we make the next one all about Raphtalia. Reminder, she wasn't hypnotized by the priest, only Sanmaru and we can how that went.**

 **Here's how this little competition will work.**

 **Name of item/relic/weapon:**

 **Lore of item/relic/weapon:**

 **Anyways with the competition set may the best item/relic/weapon win!**

 **With all of that being said, time to read your reviews!**

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 _ **RandomGuest104:**_ _ **Interesting, I am very hyped for this upcoming series. Jumpers are a pretty interesting idea overall to me. So, anything involving them is cool. The Jumpers Organization is very interesting and I look forward to more of it.**_

 **BookWorm1540:** **You are very welcome. We will come up with better lore on it when we have the time.**

 **Imaginationsburstingout:** **More information about the Jumpers will come soon, either through multiple stories or I'll post what their world looks like in my forums. Thank you for taking the time to read my material!**

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 _ **trangbui156:**_ _ **Excellent I can't wait for the duel and thank you for another wonderful chapter**_

 **BookWorm1540:** **Request granted, hope you like the fight since it was mostly Imaginations work there.**

 **Imaginationsburstingout:** **We hope that the duel is sufficient despite us just following the canon events.**

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 _ **VGBlackwing:**_ _ **I was playing fgo recently and got Tomoe Gozen and the Regend himself Sasaki Kojiro (LOL) got update those attack on him with Tsubumi Gaeshi was... flawless and smooth and Tomoe attack and np...are all meant for one-hitter quitter for normal humans like the second buster she grabs your neck and breaks it. if it was a human she would have torn off the person neck off...AHHHH I just figure out something you can use for the future chapter could up you use Tomoe Gozen's NP called On Arorikya Sowaka she charges at her opponent jumps over the person and in the middle of the air she groups underneath both of the person arms and flings them to the sky like a catapult and after they are in the air she powers up an Arrow imbrewing power of an Inferno and shoots it at him and the amount of pain he will endure will scream in agony could you do it to that noble who released the Tyrant rex and use Tsubumi Gaeshi (swallow Reversal) to cripple the Tyrant rex?**_

 **BookWorm1540:** **It will be noted based on the information you give us. Don't worry, that fatass will get what he deserved and more.**

 **Imaginationsburstingout:** **While I don't play Fate/Grand Order, I can guarantee you that the priest will receive a harsh punishment.**

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 **Imaginationsburstingout:** **Looks like that's all the reviews for today! Tell us your thoughts and we'll respond to them in the next chapter.**

 **With all that said and done I bid you all adieu**

 **Peace~**


	9. Main Objective: The Shield's Curse 3

**Main Mission: The Shield's Curse 3**

* * *

Sanmaru watched as she was led right in front of a defeated Naofumi. As this was happening, the silencing **[Shout** that she did a few hours earlier finally wore off and she could hear the murmurs of the audience. While she couldn't care less about what they were saying she was concerned whether her interference would actually affect the unlocking of the Curse Series. Therefore, she had botched up a plan to triple the suffering that Naofumi was experiencing. **[Genjutsu]** from the famous anime **[Naruto]**.

She had to make sure that the illusions were affecting his psyche, by showing an illusion of her and Raphtalia leaving him with uncaring eyes. The Jumper had to make an illusion that looked like she didn't care for him anymore and her contract with him has finally expired. With the complaints that the nobles from the spectator seats helped out with them calling out to Naofumi being a criminal. While she didn't like what she was doing, Sanmaru understands that it was a necessary evil deed that needs to be done.

As she was being led on, she could already see the effect. Naofumi was breathing harder and his eyes were now pinpricks. His state was that of pure primal rage, she could see the tell-tale signs of the Curse Series implanting itself in him through the black veins that crawled its way up to his face. Then, Sanmaru's Ghost chimed in.

" _Well, looks like his Curse Series is finally unlocked,"_ Ghost informed.

Upon hearing his report she stopped casting **[Genjutsu]** on Naofumi. Now standing a few meters away from him, she watched as the gem from his shield turned a deep shade of red. Looking to her left, she saw Raphtalia struggling to free herself from the guards only to give up as a priest walked up and poured some kind of substance that erased the slave mark that was given to her initially when she was bought by Naofumi.

To he surprise, Raphtalia didn't lash out immediately, similarly to canon events, instead she looked down with a sad look in her eyes that further infuriated Sanmaru. The same priest walked up to Sanmaru, ready to cast a dispelling ability that could remove the 'hypnotising' spell that Naofumi 'casted'.

"By the way," Sanmaru said making the priest pause his chanting. With a smile, she said, "If the dispelling spell doesn't work, then I will personally make sure that you will suffer for following the foolish king and slutty princess,"

The smile that she gave said it all. The priest suddenly had chills in his spine, he continued his chanting. Once he was done he casted the spell on Sanmaru. The magic flowed through her entire body. Searching for the spell that she was accused to be under. But nothing, instead, something else chimed in.

 **Alert! The Core has detected an anomaly. [Mind Control Spell: Mild]**

 **Purging… Purging… Purging…**

 **[Mind Control Spell: Mild] has been successfully purged out of Jumper 0008**

With an amused look, Sanmaru looked at the priest who was looking at her with hopeful eyes, hoping that his spell actually worked. From an amused look, Sanmaru's grin turned feral. The priest saw the smirk and concluded that nothing happened. Others present saw it as well and moved in to help the priest. Unfortunately, the Jumper saw this and held the priest hostage.

"Well… how about that?" The Jumper giggled in delight as other priests were nervous about the action while guards held their weapons at her. Still shaking in their boots.

The heroes started getting tense, each gripping their weapons tightly. Mainly Motoyasu as he was in disbelief of what the Jumper did. Naofumi didn't react at that but Raphtalia looked at her master in sadness.

Sanmaru looked at the crowd in front of her and the sacred priest in her hold. Deciding to mess with the church more, she decided to let this one pawn of theirs tell what he was ordered to do.

Using her Core she conjured up a useful item. Of course, she had to make it look like she was using magic.

" _A useful item that was wielded by the Princess of Themyscira, an item that was crafted by the goddess Hestia under Aphrodite's girdle, an item that forces others to tell the truth,"_

 **The Core has completed the construction of [Lasso of Truth - Wonder Woman]**

The golden lasso materialised on her left hand, without missing a beat, she threw the lasso right at the priest. The lasso found its mark and wrapped itself around the priest, as he struggled to fight back against the golden rope, guards were already pulling out their swords in an attempt to stop Sanmaru. Unfortunately, this wasn't meant to be. With a strong tug, the priest was pulled towards her. Catching the priest she used him to stop the incoming guard that was going to stand her.

The sword stopped mere inches upon the priest's throat, the noise that was once filled with shouting nobles and guards were now replaced with silence. Guards locked eyes with her as they tried to predict her next move. With the whole arena paying attention to her, her blood boiled.

She gripped the lasso tighter at the quivering priest as she asked something, "Answer me truthfully, what spell did you try casting on me?"

The priest was about to lie to her when the magical item around him glowed brightly. He felt his very soul was being stabbed when the mere thought of it as he spoke the answer, truthfully. "...A mind-control spell," the priest said under his breath.

While it wasn't loud enough to be heard by the whole arena, the guard that was closest to Sanmaru heard it. His eyes widened, from the looks of it, he wasn't told of what the priest was going to do to her. Sanmaru smirked and asked the same question louder.

"Answer me truthfully and loudly, what spell did you cast on me!?"

The Lasso of Truth glowed a brighter shade of gold and the priest squirmed more under its control. Try as the priest might though neither mortal, demigod or god could deny the power of the rope that granted total obedience.

"I used a mind-control spell on you!" The priest shouted at the arena. Loud enough for everyone to her, even Naofumi as he flinched the sudden shout.

Disbelief started to spread among the crowd. A priest, using something as disgraceful as a mind control spell? Unbelievable. The Holy Knights that bodyguarded the Pope gave the priest scornful looks while the Pope's face was of neutrality. Mein bit her thumb in annoyance to that harpy of a woman and glared evilly at her for ruining her plans to rid the Demon Shield Hero.

Sanmaru gave out a mocked gasp and shocked look. "Now why would you do that to poor little me?" She pulled the lasso closer until the priest was face to face with Sanmaru. "Who told you to do it?"

"I WAS TOLD TO DO IT! I WAS TOLD TO DO IT! BY H-RRKK!" A spear found its point on the priest's heart as Motoyatsu held his gaze down.

Surprising the Jumper, she released the priest from her grasp. Other holy disciples rushed at the dead body of their brothers and tried to save him. The spear hero only lowered his gaze at Sanmaru as she holstered the lasso on her belt.

"You're going to far, woman. Stop this now!" The ignorant blonde said, raising his holy weapon at her.

Silence graced the arena once more. All who were at the arena watched as the scene unfolded. Motoyatsu gripped his spear tightly, ready to subdue the delusional Sanmaru. Sanmaru on the other hand, had her head down. Her eyes couldn't be seen due to her hair getting in the way. The silence was broken when all heard a small giggle. This giggle turned into full blown laughter to the point that it almost sounds manic.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The laughter boomed around the arena. Mein was nervous of that laugh, as well as everyone around them.

Raphtalia's animalistic traits were screaming at her to run away and never look back. The feeling of true terror crawled up her spine as she stared at the once composed, dependable woman whom she considered her older sister. From the looks of it, she wasn't the only one who has their instincts screaming at them to run. The guards who were ordered to watch over her were quivering in their armor.

The laughter died down to a calm chuckling. Sanmaru looked up and for the first time, Motoyatsu felt true, unadulterated fear.

"I am _so_ going to wipe your pretty, ignorant, and arrogant face everywhere in this arena," She said with a venomous mouth all the while smiling like a certain prince of crime.

The ground underneath Sanmaru cracked as she zoomed across the arena, malicious intent aimed at the Spear Hero. Bringing up her fist, she sucker punched him in the face. The Spear Hero flew away and hit the wall at the other end of the arena. He tried to stand up but from the looks of it, that hit alone was enough to exhaust most of his stamina.

He grabbed his spear and used it as a crutch before feeling healed. Motoyasu looked to the side to see Malty casting a healing spell on him. The Spear Hero smiled in appreciation and went into a stance to combat the still 'unwilling' Sanmaru.

Sanmaru has had enough of this charade. She used her Core to amplify her strength similar to that of the **[Spartan II]** s from the video game **[Halo]**. Of course, this was done discreetly. From the outside, people just thought that she was just standing there and glared at the Spear Hero.

She didn't need her daggers for this waste of oxygen, fists are more than enough for the man-child who arrogantly calls himself a 'hero'. Nor with the title of a decent human being with enough common sense to strangle the ever living hell out of him.

Motoyatsu, levelled his spear and with a war cry, charged at Sanmaru. He activated one of his skills, _[Chaos Spear]_. A flurry of energy spears emerged out of his weapon and flew towards Sanmaru. Despite how it looks like dodging the incoming attacks were futile, she decided to do it anyway. With the **[Spartan II]** enhancement, her reaction time decreased by a large margin to the point where it looks like the energy spears looks just like thrown rocks.

People up in the spectators' seats were shocked at the sight as Sanmaru rolled, dove and weaved around the flurry of spears with ease. As she was doing this she was also closing in on the Spear Hero which made the crowd worried for the safety of their 'hero'.

Once the skill ended it was now time for Sanmaru's turn. Pulling out her lasso, she threw it at the Spear Hero who was getting ready to cast another skill. This action surprised the Spear Hero and tried his best to cancel his skill but unfortunately, his fate was sealed and shipped with a healthy dose of kickass.

The lasso wrapped itself around his neck. He was given no time to take it off when Sanmaru pulled him closer using her modified strength. The gap between them closed in and the next thing that Motoyatus saw were stars as he was punched in the face when Sanmaru was within arms-reach. The punch alone was enough to send him flying again only to be stopped and yanked back only for the same thing to repeat.

In short, Sanmaru made Motoyatsu a living paddle-ball with her being the paddle, the lasso, the string and Motoyasu the ball. Even the other heroes was baffled by it and they can't do anything because she might do the same to them but Malty wanted to end the fight for her 'hero' so she conjured a mid-tier fire spell and fired it at the manic Jumper.

Of course, Sanmaru saw this since her Ghost told her that he was picking up an energy spike from the princess. Quickly readjusting herself, she yanked Motoyasu for one last time. The Spear Hero in question was battered and bruised. His once 'beautiful' face that made women around him fall was now covered purples and blacks. A swollen and bleeding lip was also there to prevent him from smooching any of his party members. Yet he smiled idiotically as if the pain stopped.

But remembered about the Jumper and went to work with Motoyasu closing in on Sanmaru once more. Sanmaru pulled back for a punch but instead of just punching for the heck of it, she punched him directly at Malty who had just fired off her spell. The mid-tier spell hit his back and he gave out a pained yelp. His momentum didn't stop however as he was still flung towards Malty.

He was expecting Sanmaru to tug him back but unfortunately for him, the Jumper was finally done relieving stress. The lasso came off, with nothing to stop his momentum, Motoyatsu crashed into the princess. Both laid on the ground in a heap of mess. Malty tried to push him off. When that didn't work, she called him out and told him to get off.

"Hero Motoyatsu, please get off of me, you still need to stop that delusional woman!" No answer. "Hero… Motoyatsu…?"

She craned her neck forwards only to see a battered, bruised and unconscious Motoyasu. Silence reigned the arena once more. People gazed at Sanmaru with different eyes. Fear, amusement, astonishment. She didn't care. She looked at Raphtalia who looked like she was still processing what just happened.

"Raphtalia," The demi-human snapped her head towards her. "Comfort Naofumi… I'm not really suited for it at the moment," she lied.

The demi-human wanted to say something back, back to her supposed sister who just humiliated a priest from the Holy Church and beaten the Spear Hero to a bloody pulp. Between the whispers and the signs she saw when she saw the Spear Hero a few times, she assumed he was the strongest of the three Cardinal Heroes, excluding Naofumi because she knows her master was the strongest and to see her big sister attacking Motoyasu like she was venting her frustrations made her mind a bit blank at the moment.

But another laugh entered her head, this time it wasn't Sanmaru. The captors have all fled when they saw the Spear Hero come crashing down on Princess Malty so Raphtalia was free but didn't move during the beatdown. What she didn't know, was that the person who made the laugh was Naofumi himself as he grinned evilly at Motoyasu and the princess.

"Hehe… look at that. The 'hero' of this kingdom just got his ass kicked by a woman! HAHAHA!" His laughter was dripping with amusement and the shield he wielded glowed a dark shade of red. "Serves you right, you womanizer."

"Master Naofumi…" Raphtalia unconsciously said as she took a step towards her master only to receive backlash.

"SHUT UP! YOU WANTED TO LEAVE ME, DIDN'T YOU!? YOU WERE FED UP WITH ME AND INSTEAD WANTED HIM, DIDN'T YOU!?" Angry remarks were what left his mouth as he glared evilly at a shaken Raphtalia. In his eyes, all he saw was a black silhouette of Raphtalia with a smirk on her face.

She then walked towards Motoyasu and kissed him on the cheek while also gripping a knife on her hands filled with blood. In his eyes, Naofumi assumed Raphtalia killed him and went off to Motoyasu but the real Raphtalia stepped back in fear.

Sanmaru came from behind her as she held a hand on her shoulder. The Jumper gave her a reassuring smile. "He needs you Raphtalia, more than ever. He needs his sword."

The words struck Raphtalia to her heart as she saw Naofumi kneeling on the ground with tears in his eyes, punching on the unwavering soil. She saw a reflection of her doing the same thing, when the kingdoms soldiers didn't do anything for her and their village when she didn't care for anyone else but her. Naofumi and Sanmaru helped her get that life out and she wanted to repay the favor in full, even if it means sacrificing her life.

So, with a smile on her own Raphtalia walked towards the kneeling Shield Hero who was still bawling his eyes out. "Master Naofumi, I'm here,"

Her words fell on deaf ears as Naofumi started to have visions of the many people who wanted him to die and grovel beneath their feet. He wanted to lash out and kill them but his weapon, this accursed weapon that started it all, prevented him from applying any meaningful damage and that really grinded his gears. "Why… Why must you leave me?" Then he thought of Sanmaru, the supposed Jumper who was paid to help him only to fall victim to Motoyasu and abandon him as well. The look on her face was unworthy of his time.

" _ **Do you desire... power?"**_ An echoey voice ringed towards him internally. " _ **Do you seek... death?"**_ He nodded without hesitation. " _ **The time will come for you to use my power… until then… I will watch,"**_

"Mr Naofumi, it's alright." He looked up for the first time and saw a white figure in front of him. A small child with raccoon ears and tail was there with a bright smile. "Even if others hurt you or bully you, I will be there. I want to be there because you are my master who helped this demi-human. You never did it."

He couldn't believe his ears, this child, this human was willing to share his hatred for him? A memory flared on his head as he tried to remember who this child is and why does she seem so familiar.

"She's right, you know." Another white figure came upon his vision, this time with a woman's body. "Whatever came your way, come storm or sleet, you have us to be your pillar. And as your pillar, it's alright to let it all out. We will protect this world from you."

The sincerity in her voice reached his heart and the glowing to his shield faded away, feeling safe and wanted, he thrust his head on the lap of the raccoon child and cried softly as the child messed with his hair. Naofumi's vision started to clear up as he saw a beautiful woman messing with his hair and had raccoon ears. "Mr Naofumi, are you well?"

It clicked him. He knew this woman as she had the same characteristics to the child he bought half a year ago. "...Raphtalia?"

"Yes, Mr Naofumi. I'm here,"

That clicked another memory there as the child he bought didn't grow this big at all. With only six months to prepare for the wave, he never assumed this woman before was the child Raphtalia. "Th-That's impossible. Raphtalia was just a small girl!" His mind just shut down from all logic escaping.

Sanmaru just smirked at the logic escaping her clients mind and watched the fluff show of Naofumi and Raphtalia… She may just work on a nickname for her. Raphtalia is getting frustrated to pronounce.

Turning her head to the king and princess, the king's face hasn't shown any emotion during the entire encounter but she knew he was seething in rage. "How boring." His daughter off-handedly remarked as she continuously healed the Spear Hero, despite showing no signs of improvement. "Father, prepare the rewards and another crime to be rewarded. Sanmaru Hachiko, wanted for the assault of the kingdom's princess." The guards around her nodded and set off.

And with that, all the guests left hastily not wanting to incite the anger of the Jumper yet again.

The remaining heroes walked up to Sanmaru as she eyed them carefully. The Sword Hero walked up first while the Bow Hero stayed silent but wanted to come. "Sanmaru, yes?" The Sword Hero spoke, Ren last name not given.

"Yes?" Her voice laced with venom and anger, preparing for any attack. They tensed as Itsuki, the Bow Hero was about to draw his weapon before Ren calmed him down.

"We wanted to say that Naofumi won the bout." Fake surprise danced on Sanmaru's face as she heard what Ren said. "We were also at the balcony when we saw it happen, the unneeded magic attack that hits Naofumi. And before you get any ideas, that is all I wanted to talk about. Goodbye." They left, not bothering to look back. "For the record, I didn't think that demi-human was under a spell at all."

The Sword and Bow heroes left leaving the arena for only the Jumper, demi-human and hero. Naofumi stood up, feeling a little better now that he can finally admit that he wouldn't be backstabbed by the two people her can finally consider as companions.

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 **Imaginationsburstingout:** **Here it is! The main turning point for Naofumi. I hope all of you enjoyed today's chapter. As always, constructive criticism is wanted. Also we want to hear your thoughts about this chapter. Sanmaru lashing out on the Spear Hero was uncalled for in my opinion but then I realised that some things need to happen for the sake of character development. Hence why this chapter all of you get to see a pissed off Sanmaru.**

 **Do note that you won't see Sanmaru pissed all the time. Sanmaru is a level headed Jumper that just has a shoulder that should be colder than Mr. Freeze when it comes to Motoyatsu.**

 **BookWorm1540:** **Hell, she's colder that Esdeath when torturing her victims but you must know, we all have our breaking points and Sanmaru just went all out when she has had enough BS towards the blonde ape. I did make this idea of lashing out since I have also had enough of him and thankfully, Imaginations was kind enough to keep it there so, thanks.**

 **Anyway, with the Curse series unlocked and the new arc under way we want to end all cliffhangers so we will get RWBY soon. I'm sure all of you wanted to know what happened next. Also, do you think Sanmaru should have ended the fight with a nutshot?**

 **Imaginationsburstingout:** **As always we read all of your reviews and answer them to the best of our abilities without spoiling you. So, without further ado, time to read your reviews!**

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 _ **Have a Little Feith:**_ _ **Wait, "Melty"? The blue haired loli princess? Not the red haired "Malty", the firstborn princess? I'm guessing that was just a typo, but still, it was an interesting one to see.**_

 **Imaginationsburstingout:** **Apologies, it's a typo, we all know that Melty reveals herself later on after Naofumi discovers the mother of Filolials. Or was it before? Either way, what we do know is that Melty reveals herself after Naofumi unlocks his Curse Series.**

 **BookWorm1540:** **Apologies for that. I was in a daze during t**

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 _ **Bucio:**_ _ **I only wonder what will happen when Sanmaru realizes that the other opinion (or better said person) that Naofumi values most is her, seeing that Raphtalia's presence alone is not enough to make Naofumi react from the effect of the Curse Series .**_

 _ **Besides that when they reach the part of Atlas (or Atla) how she will react to the Jumper?, being more perceptive than Raphtalia and Naofumi.**_

 _ **And this question is more for curiosity, but how would be the luck of a Jumper who was hired to fix all the entanglements caused by Genma Saotome, by using his son as a currency in marriage commitments to get out of trouble, in addition to ridding him of Shampoo and clarifying the things with Ukyo, Akane and Kodashi and free him from being exploited in the occasional Nabiki schemes to get money, and clear up the misunderstanding with Nodoka to avoid death by decapitation at the hands of his own mother, not to mention his curse.**_

 _ **Either he succeeds, or he flatly sends Ranma to another world to get rid of the mess, the question would be, which world?**_

 _ **Good luck and keep it up**_

 **Imaginationsburstingout:** **Thanks for the vote of confidence. I have some bad news, the names and events that you mentioned… either I've forgotten about them since it has been a long time since I've read the mange or these names and evens came from the light novel - which I've never read before. At the moment I cannot give you an answer to what will happen if a Jumper intervenes these events as I do not know or I've forgotten these events.**

 **BookWorm1540: Isn't that Ranma ½? Why are you mentioning an unrelated show here? Thanks for the confidence though. Although I'm pretty sure most problems make themselves known.**

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 _ **trangbui156: That was another great Chapter now finally Naofumi reached his curse series can't wait for what comes next**_

 **Imaginationsburstingout:** **We have more in store for what's to come. Thank you for sticking with us until this point!**

 **BookWorm1540:** **So shall I. Thanks for sticking with us to the end.**

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 _ **VGBlackwing:**_ _ **I can tell she going to throw Alot of bodies on the wall without a care considering a duel...which is suppose to clear doubt and bring honor to both people has been broken and since this duel has been broken...gives the jumper free Rein to cause panic, to show who the big dog because considering the fact nothing can stop her at this moment (except she can't kill Naofumi under a paid contract) plus she built like a one man army, A Might Titan step in over a bug that can't even fathom to stop it wake.**_

 **Imaginationsburstingout:** **Okay, first off I noticed your name. I'm going to assume that you play Vainglory? If so, I too play, if you're interested PM and I can give you my username and we can party up and play. Do note though I'm only Worthy Foe bronze and that's for 3v3 ranked. Haven't even tried 5v5 ranked.**

 **Now for your review. While she didn't throw guards left and right in the arena Sanmaru did turn Motoyatsu into a living paddle-ball. And even if the guards were to gang up and attack her it would just be a suicide mission considering the fact that she can just use her Core to make any weapon she wants.**

 **BookWorm1540: The power she wields isn't one to trifle with. A mighty titan indeed but also a gentle one.**

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 **BookWorm1540:** **Wow, that took a lot more to complete. Thanks for reading and we hope to see you again soon.**

 **Imaginationsburstingout:** **There we go! All reviews read and answered. Welp, I hope all of you enjoyed today's chapter! And with that, I bid you all adieu.**

 **Peace~**


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